Farm Fresh Fairy Tales

No, no, sweetie,

don’t you cry

That little piggie

wanted to die     

Bacon is so good

and yummy

Don’t you want more

in your tummy?

Eating meat

makes you strong and big,

don’t cry over

a dirty pig

She gives us milk,

that sweet, old cow

Her baby doesn’t 

need it now

Her udders are

so big and full

She’s thankful when

we start to pull

Old MacDonald’s Farm

has only happy cows

They smile and laugh all day,

singing to the sows

When the butcher comes,

they hope it is their turn

Being on your plate,

an honor for which they yearn

There was no pain

It didn’t suffer

We needed it 

to be our supper

Chicken meat 

is so humane,

especially with

that tiny brain

Eat a nugget,

get a toy

A happy meal

for a girl or boy

Beef! It’s what’s for dinner

We need protein, you know

And make sure you’ve “got milk,”

it helps a body grow

Eating lots of meat:

the only way to grow

E-I-E-I-Oh no

That simply isn’t so

Eggplant, beans, and broccoli,

lentils, flax seed too

Apricots and strawberries,

they are so good for you

Everything you need

grows up from the ground

Your stomach doesn't have to be

another burial ground

Pigs are social creatures,

loving of their young

They like to play and use the mud

to protect them from the sun

With an oink oink here

and an oink oink there

The boiling vats of water

will help remove their hair

Chickens are inquisitive

and very, very bright,

warming up their babies

in their eggs at night

With a cluck cluck here

and a cluck cluck there

A male inside a hatchery

doesn’t have a prayer

Cattle are so

sweet and kind

A more peaceful creature

is hard to find

With a moo moo here

and a moo moo there

Watch them bleed and thrash around

while hanging in the air

We call them its
to qualify the degree
of the mercy they'd deserve
when called she or he

We don’t need to eat them

That story isn’t so

We can live and let live

E-I-E-I-O

2015

This poem appears in my book, What if the Shoe Were on the Other Hoof?