20150627 (ambivalence)

For my friend Peggy Kacerek

Since I learned of slaughter 

I’ve some trouble eating

And cooking can be upsetting too

Now I haven’t a qualm about

Quashing a millipede, cockroach, or spider

But hooking a worm can keep me

From fishing if not the whole job

Of dehooking my catch from the mouth

Gaping as if it were trying to breath

The slick scales twisting in my hand

Even throwing them back 

To their watery home left me convinced 

I had broken some natural law

But when my brother invites me

To come for fish dinner I don’t defer

Saying I’d rather have tofu

No the deeds have been done

They’re breaded and crisp

Begging for lemon juice dripping

And slather of tartar sauce

Next to a heap of catsupped French fries

They don’t ask at the pizza shop

When you spec the meat topping

If you’ll go in the kitchen and hack up

A sow snorting steer bellowing

Its anguish of being squeezed in a cage

That would keep even the hungriest

From having pepperoni, bacon, et cetera

I’m not sure I could grab a hen by the neck

And swirl her overhead till she stopped kicking

Our distance from farming

Has rendered us squeamish

Of all that’s required to set a nice table

Did we think that the turkey

Plopped on the platter

After fearlessly plucking itself naked bare

Then popped its head off 

Neatly blew out its innards

So we could stuff spiced breading in there

But I happily join in the Thanksgiving

Warmth the prayer with believers

Generous wish of agnostics

And others who pass mashed potatoes

Cranberries sweet peas and butter

Biscuits and gravy unaware that

A day before someone had to guillotine Tom 

For our festive consumption

Can you tell I’m ambi- about going veggie

How I’m trying to eat more greens and such

But still cave in to hankerings for

A gyro ham sandwich or steak

I’ve a friend who’s a vegan A Vegan

Who reminds me that cheese 

Is for her forbidden fruit

She’s healthy lucid preternaturally thin

Perhaps with her prodding

I’ll make the right choice

But if I had to menu my last meal today 

Salad spaghetti with meatballs

And a fine wine

c. J.S.Manista, 2015