By Juma Clever Collins

What happens when ordinary necessities become luxuries and those in power seem untouched by the struggles of everyday citizens? In “The Republic of Expensive Tomatoes,” Juma Clever Collins uses political satire to explore the rising cost of living, economic inequality and the growing distance between political leaders and the people they govern.

Through images of expensive tomatoes, aristocratic fuel and a weakening currency, the poem questions a society in which ordinary citizens are encouraged to remain patient while their economic burdens continue to grow.

My country is a theatre of magnificent absurdity,
Where failure wears medals
And incompetence travels in convoys.

The custodians of our destiny
Dine above the clouds,
While the masses negotiate with empty plates.

The dollar ascends like an untouchable deity;
The shilling, a fallen Icarus,
Melts beneath its merciless sun.

Fuel has become liquid aristocracy,
And movement a privilege
Reserved for those who own tomorrow.

Even the tomato has acquired nobility,
Its crimson skin concealing
The economic arrogance of a monarch.

Soon, we shall not eat vegetables;
We shall bequeath them.

Meanwhile, our distinguished governors
Prescribe resilience to the drowning,
Patience to the starving,
And patriotism to the dispossessed.

Their children inherit fortunes;
Ours inherit proverbs about perseverance.

— Juma Clever Collins