Hunger Poetry Competition Winner
Eating Cats and Dogs
Kesper Wang
I look at my cat and wonder If I’d eat him in case of some apocalyptic event, or if He’d eat me, starving, should I suddenly die; How long it’d take, this unintentional Orgy of consumption. I stare At his furry flank, pink And raw underneath, at times sucked on By an army of fleas, bloated, all six feet dangling As his paws knead on the dough of my body; I wonder How he feels, when his little mouth Bites vampire-like when my hand gets A little in the way of his play, or that one time my head got Caught between his jaws in A fit of excitement, or my feet Flicked like mice beneath the covers, Suddenly becoming his prey.
They say my people Eat cats and dogs, that we’re Barbarians, but haven’t you, too, Looked upon your fat cat sometime with Desire, or daydreamed about Shutting the neighborhood dog up Permanently by boiling him in a soup; And haven’t these fantasies felt better than Those stolen looks at your friend’s drumstick leg, His head of sweet-smelling keratin; or all these Flesh flowers and sausages we sublime, hidden In poetry some disguised sweat and pores, giving Savory scent of taco, gritty skin of burrito, Salty crust of enchilada; muscles, tendons, sinews enjoined A dark and white meat beneath a sauce? Here in America sometimes the pets Live better than the people, as the people Eat kibble and wet food, denied they are Of government benefits; now tell me, What’s a bite of kitty to all of that?
Even Snoop said: it’s a dog eat dog world. Only once we rise beyond the slaughterhouse Through the mess hall to a seat At America’s dining table can we call it A doggy dog world.
Kesper Wang (he/they) is an anti-capitalist climate advocate who likes skateboarding and biking. He graduated from the University of Chicago, and his poetry has been featured in Through These Realities, trans.monster, Boston Free Radio, and City of Somerville. He likes to paint, daydream, doodle, and blast reggaetón.
