GIVING THANKS

The flavor of blood is evident

in meat—no matter the kind of meat:

turkey meat

chicken meat

pork meat

steak-hamburger-hotdog-bacon-

meat—no matter the amount of salt

it won’t cover up

blood—

 

chewing each fibered

morsel tender, carful

not to bite bones—grinding

meat in clenched

teeth, swallowing—

blood—

 

the meat came from somewhere else—

someone else hacked it—

we didn’t have to watch, so we chew,

forgetting until the metallic iodine

salty blood hits the tastebuds and we chew

again—

blood—

 

ignore the plasma on the tongue, pretend

it wasn’t once

a bird

a cow

a deer

an elk

sheep-lamb-pig-duck—

blood—

 

that would cluck or suck-

up slop in the fields

pens—

forget it once had

eyes

a face

a mother

a dream—

blood—

 

while giving thanks

sitting around thanksgiving

tables with thanksgiving

forks thanksgiving

knifes digging into thanksgiving

turkey-mashed-potato-stuffing-plate

thank the soul with the life

stolen from it—its carcass

slipped between

lips to a grinning

ah!—

blood!

 

 

© All Rights Reserved Caroline Adele O’Brien