There’s a little pad of fat

There’s a little pad of fat

On the back of the lamb’s neck

A parrot will rip into this

With its beak and leave the

Animal to die in the paddock

 

There’s a sweet spot

At the top of the palm

The place where all the fronds come from

A man will slice this off

With a machete,

Serve you

A hearts-of-palm salad and leave

The tree to wither

 

There’s a pool of dark liquor

Deep underneath the ocean floor 

Reviews

[Renee]

I like the use of "paddock" instead of corral or pen... The course of nature always occurs. Life and death and survival of the fittest keeps on moving on. Nice juxtaposition in line one and stanza two.

The following two stanzas share our wasteful nature, and how we take our precious Earth for granted.

Lastly, you make me think how intoxicated the entire world is over crude, and I mean that in the dual sense of the word.


Outstanding poetry! *clapping*

[Eilis]

To me, this speaks of the sort of random thoughtlessness of so much destructiveness in the world. I feel sometimes utterly numb to all that goes on day to day and have the great fear that atrocity will begin to feel normal. To me this also speaks of that idea of death by a thousand cuts. Like there are so many ways to witness the indifference of the universe that it can feel almost futile to try to imagine a more benevolent nature that cares about and protects life rather than destruction and violence (suffering) being the default. Your images speak to me of slow and painful demise. Things that prey on other things but not out of some maliciousness just sort of matter of factly. Death and life are so intimately intertwined but it’s much easier to make peace with the idea when we feel there’s some sense or some order to it. But often existence is a series of events that all lead to the same ending just without giving us the triumph over nature that we need to feel within us. I don’t know, it feels like, within this context, evil itself is being dismissed. There is reality and there is result of action and everything eventually ends the same way. Perhaps there is some freedom or catharsis in that. This poem gave me chills.

[SkinlessFrank]

Thanks for your reactions. Yesterday I walked past a monster Hummer car that someone had left parked but running on the side of the street. I almost retched.

[Beccy]

That little pad of fat grows thinner with every passing day. It is unedifying to see how short a distance, even those of us who pay lip service, are prepared to travel, without the creature comforts we have become so pointlessly used to.

Beccy.

[M. Shepherd]

I had a strangely cogent realization the other day (as though it weren't obvious up to that point) that mankind is just as savage and barbaric as the Vikings were, as we've always been, sort of semi-cloaked in the idea of "society" or "civilization" but we remain pretty atrocious, as a species. And the rest of nature is just as savage and ruthless, usually. So do we fight this nature and attempt peacability? Or do we accept it as a natural part of life? We fight. We kill. We are animals. You can take the man out of the wilderness, but, well, you know the rest. I wish we weren't so aware of it, is all, if it's going to be part of us. A lion doesn't feel badly for murdering it's prey, it's just eating. That we cringe at the thought of atrocities makes it an unsettling dissonance in us.

[. serah .]

-- for me, the speaker is narrating how we accept the violence we see around us... and is telling us... very, very quietly... that unless we question the degree of violence we accept, we cannot begin to claim that we are peace-loving people...

-- we guillotine too many things i guess... without a second thought... and then we are so delusional that we think the guillotines were in existence only during the French Revolution... or something...

[...]

God I love this so much... You captured the waste, the thoughtlessness, the greed, as only you would capture it in this so resoundingly YOU style, SF.

[kmartell]

Once again the words come through, an honesty and at the same time an odd reality makes yr poems interesting, reaching out to be heard. thanks

[Holly Mason]

the word paddock caught my attention as well..nice write thanks for sharing

[Nick.B]

Interesting poem that has a very "dark journey", love the fourth stanza, it has that cold and raw feeling that leaves you wondering....great imaginary, love the poem

[Emily B]

sometimes

i like to

go back

to the beginning

and

begin again

[poetry-kiddo alienbaba]

Professor is it ambrosia or the pit of fire you are referring to in the last verse?
:)