| Litigation
at Lunch . . .
By
Ellaraine Lockie
She’s a vegetarian she asserts
Reading animal rights from the menu
Justice for all
certified by the decisive fall
of her salad forked gavel.
After I order prime rib medium rare
her nose wrinkles
with the stench of condescension
Smog of an anti-stockyard statute
tainting the space between us.
And I flinch in defense
from the unspoken accusation
The two-second trial prosecuted
A premeditated vegan verdict of guilt
As the evidence arrives red and innocent
My anger eases into
awkward
And in the interest of an appeal
or perhaps compromise
I comment on the similar taste
we share in shoes – leather strap sandals Published
by Tickled by Thunder in 'The Year's Best
Poetry,' Vol. 10, 2003.
|
