Emma Zozzaro

 

The pig succumbs to man

Because man holds the cleaver

And the dog at the foot of the door of the slaughterhouse

Succumbs to man because man holds the pig

 

Each of us has too much hunger and fear in him

To live properly

We all have the rotten beasts

Chained and festering in some dark

 

Corner of our subconscious

Ardent in their foolish ways

Doing just about anything for a scrap to eat or

A few more days lived in utter terror

 

And miserable paranoia

In our dumbfounded acts of subservience

To these ugly yet essential human elements

We find ourselves hunched over

 

Words become gruff and incoherent

And we are something four-legged with hooves

Or claws

And a jaw set to kill