Thanksgiving
by Mac Hammond
The man who stands above the bird, his knife
Sharp as a Turkish scimitar, first removes
A thigh and leg, half the support
On which the turkey used to stand. This
Leg and thigh he sets on an extra
Plate. All his weight now on
One leg, he lunges for the wing, the wing
On the same side of the bird from which
He has just removed the leg and thigh.
He frees the wing enough to expose
The breast, the wing not severed but
Collapsed down to the platter. One hand
Holding the fork, piercing the turkey
Anywhere, he now beings to slice the breast,
Afflicted by small pains in his chest,
A kind of heartburn for which there is no
Cure. He serves the hostess breast, her
Own breast rising and falling. And so on,
Till all the guests are served, the turkey
Now a wreck, the carver exhausted, a
Mere carcass of his former self. Everyone
Says thanks to the turkey carver and begins
To eat, thankful for the cold turkey
And the Republic for which it stands.
End of the poem
15 random poems
- Жан де Лафонтен – Старый Кот и Мышонок
- An Epitaph 2 (From The Greek) by William Cowper
- Lines For Winter by Mark Strand
- Goodbye by Robert Creeley
- “Flight to the Moon” by Nina Gabriel
- Vietnam Vet befriends an immigrant in Pittsburgh, Pa – ( let’s put it that way ) by Vasil Slavov
- Thinking For Berky by William Stafford
- Владимир Высоцкий – Сивка-Бурка
- Song—A Bottle and Friend by Robert Burns
- Виталий Бакалдин – Я не рос среди берез
- Awake by Sara Herlihy
- Robert Burns: Lines On Meeting With Lord Daer:
- Sir Giles’ War-Song by William Morris
- Sonnet 140: Be wise as thou art cruel; do not press by William Shakespeare
- Orlando Furioso canto 13 by Ludovico Ariosto
Some external links:
Duckduckgo.com – the alternative in the US
Quant.com – a search engine from France, and also an alternative, at least for Europe
Yandex – the Russian search engine (it’s probably the best search engine for image searches).
