Judicious Interrogation Poem by The Poet SPIEL

judicious interrogation

why eat chicken
but refuse the meat
of the abundant sparrow

why grieve the death
of women and children
in war

but celebrate
the slaughter
of seed-bearing men

how does the monkey know
to refuse the peel
of an innocent orange

how much hunger
can you bear
before you sneak

into an old woman's pantry
to rip off
her winter preserves

instead of
eating the heart
of the sparrow

which fouls
the window
above the oven

where she bastes
her last
murdered chicken

_____The Poet SPIEL