Much More Work To Do Poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar

Why are those chickens running around,
And their heads have been cut off?

'They've been conditioned that they are not chickens.
They've been programmed to believe they are constituents.
And that's the name they prefer.
It has stuck with them!
Like feathers attached to birds.'

You are what you believe, you know?

'I know!
And those heads?
They've never used them anyway.
So the running around,
With their heads cut off the way they do?
They've been told only 'chickens' do that!
And as luck would have it...
They can't see themselves that way!
No heads?
No eyes!

What about all those pots you've got?

'Well...
We've been promising to get one in each pot!
And that's the dilemma.
Like I said...
They can't 'see' themselves as chickens.
Nor do they believe,
We can get one in each pot!
So they are running around...
As if a lottery to be played,
Will be stopped.

And...
I don't have to tell you,
There's a lot of convincing.
With much more work to do.
None of this was planned too well.'

Or at all!