Feast (Poem-17)

"I made you something special..."

Woken by the Feast day sun

Its scorching warmth of joy

Matches our happy beaks

As we move towards the field.

Master has set a lovely banquet

Studded with seeds and delicious "pests"

We don't know how to thank Master, but

We rush to relish, instead.

In between gorging sessions

I glance at the younglings

And my friends 

And smile at their smiles

"How delicious!", ones' said

"A feast for sure!", said another's

A few hours hence, Master joins us and

Adds to the shine with a staff that glitters;

Its gleaming silver matches

The harvested rain.

I'd stare at it longer, but

Master ushers us out

Into his chariot's carts 

We barely fit, but Master 

Isn't frowning, so we don't complain.

An hour later

Master stops the chariot

And leads us into smaller carts

On a moving belt.

It's been a fun ride so far

But Master wishes to make it better!

We oblige and settle into the carts

Which begin moving;

Suddenly, a beautiful fragrance 

Fills my lungs...

And I close my eyes

-Armaan Kothare

*

Explanation:

Note: some people might find a few parts of this explanation "disturbing" or "inappropriate", and you are therefore requested to read at your own risk.

And yes, the abrupt ending was intentional.

The narrator is supposed to be a broiler chicken; the first few stanzas describe the chicken's routine on "Feast day". On 'Feast days', broiler chickens, such as the narrator, are fed with lots of food, following which they are taken to the slaughterhouse.

"Chariot" refers to the master's truck. "Staff that glitters" refers to the master's butcher blade.

The last stanza was an attempt to describe how chickens are then transferred into crates on conveyor belts-upon reaching slaughterhouses- which then take the chickens through a process called "gassing". This process makes chickens unconscious, and is commercially recognized as the most "humane" way of executing livestock. To protect people that may potentially get triggered by further details, I urge all curious readers to kindly look up the same, separately.

The poem ends abruptly after "I close my eyes", akin to how abruptly numerous chickens' lives end on a day to day basis. And this isn't just applicable to chickens...several other animals are subjected to similar practices.

And the title of the poem could have two interpretations-

One could see the feast from the perspective of the chickens, and for another, see the chickens as the feast.

**

I hope you found this poem illuminating...I personally felt like it was a topic worth exploring, since I myself was oblivious to it.

Stick around for more posts (hopefully soon), and please feel free to leave any thoughts, comments or suggestions in the comment section below.

Thanks for reading!!