Mahogany

No relations but in things—
My father and the economists in repetition
The mahogany tree and its crown

Large shining leaves
Rustling between the rivers
My daughter emerges on the year

Independence is counted
Her power now also commodity
Crown takes crown

Settlement becomes colony
Then crown colony then country
This, the manifestation of matter and idea

Content itself giving birth
To the form already latent
Treaties, trees, children

Appearances, like change
I am trying to see this right side up
The land, the people

Clearing the land for the extraction of wealth
A chair comes into being
Devoid of social history

We see only a chair
My lord, they pleaded
My love, I whisper