On the Origin of Karl Marx

She found him in the office copy machine
still warm. His hair

a righteous white halo. His countenance
confident as ever.

“I told you so,” he seemed to say,
“In capitalism, things are personified

and people are commodified.” Turning
the lever let her release him.

The paper jam resolved.
The machine restored.

She was sure that
he belonged to someone

that someone was looking for him
wanted him     needed him.

When she pinned him to the bulletin board
she was not trying to be clever

not trying to be ironic
but to be of use, like Karl.

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Lisa Alvarez’s poetry has appeared in Codex Journal, Huizache, Truthdig, and Zócalo Public Square and is forthcoming in Borderlands: Texas Poetry Review. She is the co-editor of Orange County: A Literary Field Guide and a professor at Irvine Valley College. For 20 years, she has co-directed the Writers Workshops at the Community of Writers in the California’s Sierra Nevada.