10 June 2019

We Both Got an F on Our Animal-Eating Test

Vegans are weird,
or so I’ve heard

Through overblown 
infatuations with protein,
talks of celestial powers 
bringing animals into existence 
for that very reason

Man’s arrogant claims 
of superiority

Don’t be naïve and ignorant,
blinded by sentiment
Animals are to eat,
they tell me

Let’s include a simple
computation
as we examine this argument

Start with 5,000
The number of mammal species,
rounded down for simplicity

Mammals aren’t alone,
we need to add in birds
So 10,000 species with feathers
plus 5,000 hairy bastards

Now math class 
is just a shady memory
in my distant past,
but I think I can handle this one

15,000 animals

Oh wait! We need reptiles
That’s 9,000 species there
Shit, I’ve got to carry a one?!
Um, oh, ah… 24,000
I’m done!

Fucking fish! 
27,000 of them!
“Seven and four is 
eleven once more”
Two twos with that one…
54,000

My math teacher 
would be proud,
if I could only 
remember her name

Amphibians,
those weird motherfuckers
who can’t just pick a home
7,000 species still to add

Four and seven, carry the one
Damn, where’s my calculator?
Change the five to a six
61,000! 

Insects?? 
You’ve got to be kidding me
Do they even count??
Two million???

At least we get those zeros
That’s two million,
sixty-one thousand
animals in the world

And you eat, what, four?

Cow, pig, chicken, turkey?

Okay, maybe you eat
duck, crab, deer,
walleye, carp, salmon,
trout, tuna, lobster,
shrimp, rabbit, lamb

I can still count that on 
my fingers and toes

Perhaps you tried turtle once,
alligator or squid

I’ll even add in an extra ten
for any I might have missed

Let’s round that up to 30
Maybe, just maybe, 
you’ve eaten thirty species

Thirty out of 
two million,
sixty-one thousand

I don’t need long division 
to tell me that’s not even close 
to one percent

Wait. You said I was silly
You went on and on about protein
You said God gave you animals to eat

You’re slacking

So, wash down
your double cockroach horseburger
with organic llama milk

Dip your bluejay wings
in delightful gecko sauce

Serve your orca salad
with shaved donkey on the top

Skunk jerkey,
Kangaroo sliders,
Guinea pig and spider stew

Animals are for eating,
you sentimental fool

Beagles, bats, and beavers,
baked or barbequed

Falcons, fleas, flamingos,
fresh or fondued

Camels, cats, canaries
in a creamy casserole

Go ahead
Tantalize your taste buds
Crunch, munch, chomp,
slurp, chug, gulp

I’ll wait…

Or maybe,
not eating animals
isn’t that weird 
after all




28 July 2018





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