Ikizukuri

[Colm Roe]

If they could scream
would you reconsider?
No, you'd still poke the dead or dying
fish or frog
and giggle more if it spoke,
your chopsticks would, if they could
prod it back
to extend your fun.

Sure they don't feel pain,
they're not human.
Like the 'sub-human' Chinese
that weren't treated any better;
not that animals find any respect there.

Our world is fucked up, look
a few Nazis saved so many there, like
John Rabe, bless him.

I swim in their world,
observe their curiosity, their ability to remember details
and the imposed savagery required
to survive.

We evolved from them
our DNA remains on their passports.
These distant relations can't scream
or talk, or argue.
How many eons will it take
for us to really evolve?

[penguin]

Hello Colm. Makes me glad I'm a vegan, not to mention the feeling of moral superiority. I think the poem would be improved without the 2nd and 3rd stanzas. The stuff about the Chinese and Nazis threatens to turn it into just another rant about how awful mankind is. The last 2 stanzas rescue the work from that, but should it not be " their DNA remains on our passports."?

[Colm Roe]

Hello Colm. Makes me glad I'm a vegan, not to mention the feeling of moral superiority. I think the poem would be improved without the 2nd and 3rd stanzas. The stuff about the Chinese and Nazis threatens to turn it into just another rant about how awful mankind is. The last 2 stanzas rescue the work from that, but should it not be " their DNA remains on our passports."?

Hi and welcome penguin.
Yes, their DNA on our passports.
S2 and 3...were intended to be more exploration than rant. That it's not only animals who are treated badly, and it's possible to be surprised by the humanity of people we perceived to be evil.
Anywho, it was a quick, late write that I had to make a start on; one that requires lots of editing.
Thanks for your comments.

[Dave]

Hey Colm
Thought provoking. I agree that the middle section is uneven. As far as I can see, we are what we are as are all the other creatures on earth and always will be.
Dave
 

[Colm Roe]

Thought provoking. I agree that the middle section is uneven. As far as I can see, we are what we are as are all the other creatures on earth and always will be.

Thanks Dave.
But we should be evolving quicker than our animal friends. The way we behave is too often beneath ourselves...as I'm oft to say.
The rape of Nanking being one episode I've been familiar with for some time; but I'd never heard of John Rabe, or his efforts to save so many poor residents of the city. He was a dyed in the wool Nazi...but he did so much for them, then died in poverty back home in Germany.
The sheer scale of the savagery involved was beyond belief.