issue 35 > poetry > gibson

Spongiform brain disease: the cow, tormented with a prod,
won’t stand, but still makes it to the dinner table in the film.

Baseball in the chicken coop: guy hits homerun; guy hits foul
(pun intended); guy points to Louisville Slugger label in the film.

Farm worker wipes down champion rooster, re-sets metal claw;
urges his dying bird to continue, but it’s not able to in the film.

Hooves are like snowmobile skids; chests, like unfinished barrels:
the ASPCA in the Bronx raids a derelict riding stable in the film.

Cocks fight; bulldog disembowels cat; men rape dog with pole:
Hogarth’s engraving “The First Stage of Cruelty,” his fable on film.






Also by Stephen Gibson:

Vinegar