[Newspoetry] Molly Ivens: Inside Scoop the Poop on Poultry

[Donald L Emerick]

Inside Scoop the Poop on Poultry

Oh, good golly, Miss Molly,
what could you say next?

You tell us Bush followed good scientific practice,
if there could ever be such a science of economics,
and if there is a policy-making, it follows its news,
which -- curiously I should say -- is also its theory,
and its research, too, is like our own news poetry,
not quite self-fulfilling, but self-satisfying, anyway.

So, he followed it, for the poultry processors,
who take a living chicken -- thousands of them --
and kill them and, oh Euphemism thou art too kind,
process them into trays, cooled and frozen for you,
so no hot blood oozes and runs out of dire wounds,
there in your sight, where you might even be fouled
of the file deaths fowl die to become your chicken.
He said, let us free a few poultry processors to run
their business in ways that make sense to them,
and then, after a time, we shall see if things are better,
and, if they are, then we shall free all poultry processors.

I used to rule clucking chickens when I farmed,
as I was cock of the walk, king of the coop,
and yes, that meant that I watered and fed them,
cleaned out the nests and the beds and the poop.

I robbed carefully saved nest eggs, twice daily,
washed off the poop on them and crated them,
dozens on dozens stacked and stashed away,
you earn your egg money for chicken feed,
I am sentimental fool who found chicken ethics, too.

The dirty work was yet to be done in culling them,
for some did not have as long to live as others.
For instance, when the spring flock of yellow fuzzies
became mature, it had both males and females,
roosters and hens, for both come in the same package,
an egg (or a crate from the more productive hatchery).

Roosters who lay no eggs have no reason to live
after they have mated with and made fertile hens,
who go on laying eggs when no roosters remain.

So, roosters who have no reason to live,
and reason is such an elastic standard that,
when we apply it to the life of someone else,
we rarely find they have any reason to live,
and, this would be especially true of me,
ex-HeadsMan to the Living Chicken World,
for my views are extreme on what reason must be,
and, sadly, most chickens lack any reason at all.

It's hard to be friends with any chicken --
but I tried several different species of them,
including colorful Bante hens and roosters.
Like my dog they have their own way of living,
and they see the world accordingly so,
full of grain, water and shells and nests,
bright golden straw covers all in its sprawl.

The time came, then, came around at last,
for roosters who had no reason to go on living
to make a contribution to their own well-being,
to pay the bar keeper the total on the tab due.

I culled the roosters out of the flock,
a few every day, day after day, except Sunday,
until all of the roosters were none at all,
for each of them died on the chopping block,
an axe falls like a crude precursor guillotine,
as the head severs, blood spurts from the neck,
the wings spread as if to fly, to flee from horror,
the legs and claws kick and scratch at you,
and then, the headless corpse flops over,
pumps a last trickle of blood, too tired to spray,
and dies but, by then, several others are also
running around with their heads cut off,
spurting blood like water cannons and flopping over.

The massacre of a few chickens occurs without mass,
there is no moral gravity to that scarlet and white scene,
this is what I told myself, what every ax-man says,
when he murders other beings, for a profit's pleasure.

And, as feathered chickens could not be eaten by us,
then I gathered the scattered bodies to go up,
not to heaven, but to the farm house,
where a scalding baptism awaited each dirty body,
and strong hands pulled off feathers,
and sharp knives slit the soft underside,
and quick hands pulled out vital organs,
and sharper knives quartered this thing,
this once living thing that was now meat for me.

Was there poop on this poultry?
Yes, Molly, there was poop, but not much,
and there were many other things, too.
And all scalding water cleans and sanitizes,
so that the little virii do not become too many
more millions and billions to sicken and kill us.

So, Molly says Bush set the Poultry Processors free
in an experiment of food safety de-regulation,
to let the processors do for themselves
what government would have done for us, before.
The results of the experiment:
costs fell and profits rose,
and more people became greatly sickened,
by meat that was much less pure than it should be

Bush said, "Well, leaving a little poop on poultry,
by cutting down on sanitation here and there,
is a fair price as cheaper chickens earn higher profits.
Therefore, the experiment was a success,
in the judgment of chickens when Bush rules,
and all poultry processors shall now be free,
to leave a little poop on their poultry
and other virii on less sanitized meat.

Molly said more, about a cracked 5th Circuit Court egg,
that said, "Well, if they just cooked it right,
consumers would have no cause to complain,"
as if we the people cooked all of our own meals
at home, and did not eat out or dine fast on KFC.

So, Thank you, Miss Molly,
for bringing to my attention
what may be worth hearing,
and thanks for listening,
Donald L Emerick
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