Part I: Slaughter

Each bite

we thought to be

just a bite.

Each swallow

we thought to be

just a swallow.

Each meal

we thought to be

just a meal.

Each meal

is not just a meal

but murder.

 

They slapped on the packages

images of farms

and happy cows,

the stories of well-treated

pigs and chickens.

In reality,

the chickens can’t walk,

the cows can’t move,

and the pigs can’t breathe.

 

The fat on their feathery forms

weighs them down.

They live in cold darkness,

never seeing the light of day

until they are lifeless.

Our bovine friends

stand in overcrowded pens

piled with heaps of poop.

Their hides are caked

with the mephitic crap.

There they suffer,

with bloated bodies begat

by tons of pernicious corn.

At their ends,

our bovine friends

are skinned alive to make

your beef.

Finally, the pigs.

These creatures are stunned

before their deaths.

Following, a knife slits

across their jugular.

Hanging upside down,

the blood trickles as

a heavy rain

onto the slaughterhouse floor.

 

What is the price

for this processed food?

It is not just a meal.

Not just a bite

or just a swallow.

We eat their suffering.

Author's Note

I write of horror. This is no exception.
Ever since the days in which the revolutionary novel "The Jungle" by Upton Sinclair was written, the conditions in the slaughterhouse treatment of animals has changed very little. The animals eaten by everyday American citizens might as well not be considered animals at all because of their treatment. The sad thing? So far, the United States may very well be the only country doing this to their animal food sources. It may have changed.

Regardless, the treatment of animals is not acceptable. It is a nightmare in itself. Decide for yourself how you will take this. For now, I would like to make people aware.

Reviews

[Inyourshadow]

Unfortunately Eve I used to work in one of these places a chicken processing plant, didn't stay long but I so relate to the poem, the way truely is inhumane and I won't go into details to how inhumane. You are truely a mistress of the dark genre and I am never disappointed by your works. Keep em' coming