Day 148

Today's words:

Divorce
Skin
Colony
Cheese
Winner
Genius

"My divorce
Is final tomorrow," she said. Her skin
Was almond-colored. We were in a former French colony,
Eating cheese sandwiches. "I feel like a winner,"
She said,"Even though it doesn't take a genius

"To see I'm not. If I were a genius
"I wouldn't be getting this divorce -
"I'd really be a winner,
"And never have married at all." Her skin
Was beautiful, but I tried not to look and concentrated on my cheese
Sandwich. Life in this former colony

Was weird. Majestic buildings constructed when it was a colony
Sat next to run-down huts. Maybe a genius 
Could have improved things, but for now we just ate our cheese
And talked about divorce.
I didn't have too much skin
In this game. I was leaving soon. I wanted to come out a winner.

In a way this country hadn't been a winner
When it became independent  - no longer a colony,
But no more French money either. Most people had skin
The color of café au lait. It didn't take a genius
To tell they were mixed. But the divorce
From France meant more than just an increase in the price of cheese.

Even though it was imported from France, the cheese
Used to cost not much more than in France. The winner
Now was the producers; the divorce
Allowed them to charge higher prices, as it was no longer a colony
And therefore a free market. "Genius!"
They thought, "We'll skin

"Them alive!" Their own white skin
Was the color of some cheese.
If I were a genius
I would find a way for everyone to be a winner,
France and its former colony,
Even after the divorce.

So the color of one's skin can make one a winner
Or a loser. It's just hard cheese, the fate of this colony,
And only a genius can make a success of a divorce.