A Hanging Basket

In the garden store I found a hanging basket
in the aisles of feather wreaths and christmas ornaments
the perfume of pesticides in the air
I found it with a hundred of its brethren
on a low metal shelf in the dusty light
Astroturf moss covered, it was, and had a
loop of synthetic rubber braided "vines"
It was made in China by human hands
Who wove such subtleties into the basket
as a production line would permit
for 10 hours a day, 6 days a week
over and over again plaiting the
sorrowful objects for a country far, far away