What I Wanted to Say
When I ordered the veggie burger
and you asked me,
“If you wanted something
that tastes like meat,
why don’t you just eat meat?”
What I wanted to say was
Because it’s not the taste I oppose,
it’s the torture
What I wanted to say was
If it could taste like meat,
why would you insist on death?
What I wanted to say was
Because I can watch my food go
from farm to table and not
lose my appetite. Can you?
What I wanted to say was
The same reason you would
teach a child when an apple
is perfectly ripe to pick but not
when a neck is ripe to slice
Why is slaughter okay
as long as you don’t have to watch?
But I know I’d be “the angry vegan”
What I wanted to say was
Why aren’t you
Angry?
But I don’t
Because I want to enjoy
the dinner, the company
So I just die a little inside, quietly
Not literally, like the ten billion
farmed animals a year in America
Just another kick, another bruise,
Another moment where my heart
takes a hit
Another few grains of compassion
I watch trickle through humanity’s hourglass,
feeling like we are running out
I’m just trying to hold a few
grains above surface level
and you ask why I don’t like the sound
they make when they fall
And maybe I fail the animals
in this moment
Or maybe I’ve had to learn how
to live in a world that doesn’t want
to know, doesn’t want
to listen, doesn’t want
to look, doesn’t want
to care, just wants
their bloody burger
What I wanted to say was
The writing has been on the wall
The United Nation’s Environmental Programme
and Harvard and Oxford
and the top environmental
scientists across the globe
warn of the dire consequences
of this industry’s
land use, water use, deforestation,
and greenhouse gas emissions
How killing them is killing us
And you just smile and chew
Because it tastes so good
to die
Written May 6, 2024