Frying Pan Park
(or, Happy Thanksgiving!)


My friends . . .
We are gathered here in this annual flocking
which our human wardens
like to think of as a pilgrimage,
a rite of passage,
if you will,
their godliness on display –
believing by sparing a couple of us,
the rest of the flock
will gladly flock
to the stove

to be ovenized –
roasted, baked,
fried, smoked,
cooked and eaten!

I'm here to tell you
They Are Full Of Chicken Poop!

All ten-thousand of us
should lay on the ground
fluttering and kicking,
beating our wings,
moan-screeching
and gasping
like the worst case
of bird-flu
has hit us all.

Strike, I say!
Better to die, en mass,
rather than leave
a single one of us
with the indignity
of survival
while the rest of us
are butchered
and eaten.

That said,
my loved and cherished
family and friends,

I,
from the depths of my
fowl-born soul,
knowing such a thing
will never come to pass,

I volunteer,

Volunteer, I say,

to be the sacrificial bird,
even to be a
Capon
if that's what it takes
to represent those of you
destined to
the Pot!

So lay down your lives
for me,
push me to the front
of the flock,
force me to stand before
the President, to be pardoned,
the representative of my family
forced to grieve for you
the rest of my days
letting humanities hands
caress my feathers
at Frying Pan Park.

I salute you
my friends,

and will remember you well.

© wesley james beard, jr.

Note:

"President George H.W. Bush in 1989 was the first president to grant a pardon — the turkey in question was sent to, of all places, Frying Pan Park in Herndon, Va., according to a 2011 blog post on the White House website."