Wednesday, March 05, 2008

Caucus

I have known something of slaughter,
Of cow, pig, sheep and lamb;
Of goose from the air and trout from the water.
By coercion, pressure and stealth, man
Brings his food to the edge of his knife
To let the blood and harvest the meat.
From the blood of fellow creatures, life.
Making cold what brings him heat.
The cattle in the final feedlot,
The sheep outside the abattoir,
Forget the hay they finally need not
And resist the pastoral peace of the farm.
While the only meat that's elected and paid,
Turns its own neck to the butcher's blade.

CAUCUS, n.  The corralling of sheep for quadrennial fleecing.

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

First? You must have been late. 'Course, your "late" is still "early" here.

Or maybe the caucuses have left everyone, or certainly Cooper, a little down today. I would say "on the downside", but down's so expensive, it's probably more accurate to say, "on the feather side".

I need caffeine, decongestants, antihistamines ...

Anonymous said...

CAUCUS n.
a ruckus of crows
sitting on the fence
telling lies

verifier: ftalk -- need I say more?

TLP said...

Funny Quilly!

Caucus: You fill cracks with it. Not as good as crows, what can I say?

Ariel the Thief said...

And here I thought caucus was that thing on your feet after walking too much in the same shoes.

Alana said...

Sure, but do REAL sheep have shiny black boxes with pretty people and pictures that tell them what to think and do??

Doug The Una said...

Amoeba, but what you don't need is a book of puns.

Quilly, did you just
Leave a freaking haiku here?
A pox on your eyes!

TLP, callous if you run out of caucus.

Ariel, see above.

Nope, Alana. Nor blogs. Speaking of, the world should know you're posting again. Especially those readers who can't get enough about childbirth.

Jamie Dawn said...

Your Spanish/Pig Latin threw me for a loop in your return comment. Now, that's talent! I bet there's high demand for Spanish/Pig Latin translators at the U.N.
It's not a well known language.

I don't like the word Caucus. It's simply an ugly sounding word.

Anonymous said...

But Doug, surely you've figured out by now that this year's election season is a real caucophony?

Who needs books?

;)

G said...

I hate to just say well done, but I'm not feeling very clever right now and you apparently had it in spades when you woke up.

Clap.

Alana said...

Well I think that includes me, myself and I. And oh, maybe my mom.

Minka said...

ok...this word is entirely American and therefore un-Minkaish. I have decided to concentrate on Carcass and Caucasus instead...and thereby define "caucus" as a dead body somewhere South of Russia.

mireille said...

Disturbing. Maybe we all long for oblivion sometimes. But politically? That's a different stockyard altogether. xoxo

Anonymous said...

Maybe so, but I'm looking forward to butchering the lame duck.

Cooper said...

Do not talk of me behind my back.

Tt's a cock-us Dawg, a cock-us.
Have I taught you nothing?

That poem was too good.

Indeterminacy said...

Caucus: simultaneous rhyme and synonym for raucous.

Doug The Una said...

Jamie Dawn, it's a gift I try to use for the betterment of man. Ruebopay.

Amoeba, nobody with a blog.

Thanks, g. Flattery is the last refuge of the flaccid.

Alana, don't sell yourself short. Lots of people have baby lust.

Minka, I think it's a native American word. Nice synthesis.

Actonbell, a caucus not for the feint of heart or the busy or employed.

Mireille, are you saying politics is the last place we look for glory? Because it's also the last place we find it.

Weirsdo, every year that passes aren't we all getting just a little more jihadi?

Cooper, you have taught me profanity and for that I will always be in your goldurned debt.

Indie, which, in turn, is a homonym for ruckus, I think.