by Alexia Rauen

My sister-in-law sits and talks with my mother about loans,
out-of-focus, I make my second cup of coffee.

Finally, the luxury of transience seems in
reach, perhaps in the sludge beneath my sips.

Eventually I might learn the true difference of
deficit and debt and why the Chicago boys

thought this neoliberalism might work;
maybe I will read up on Pinochet and

dictators. I try to make sure I alternate
my readings so I do not become too

claustrophobic in my fox-den.
My mother did not want me in the forest

when she heard the neighbors spotted
a red fox. I wanted to see what the mother

was like, was she different from mine?
You ask me why I study all these

countries I am not from, I say
but oh, look I am!