meat

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the crystal ball above his head
was a means of producing light
illuminating the kitchen's sodden drudgery
his hand sliding easy over a liver
with a blade that could shave your teeth
surgically slicing the meat

‘a full breakfast and a mug of tea, please.’

page three and her mammary glands
like swollen globes tipped with volcanoes

‘reconstruction involves tissue taken from the labia.’

more cuts
she winces
as she pictures
the blade
slicing her again

I remember the eye of the bull and how it bulged with fear
my days in the abattoir and the spilling of guts into plastic bins
the flaying of skin as it was stripped off the carcass like an Elastoplast

the indifference of death
as it passed on hooks
marked, cut and labelled
taking the dead weight
and stacking it in a pile

the barrels of blood
the floating clots
and the glug, glug, glug
as the vats were filled
with the brilliant pigment

“bacon, sausage, black pudding, two eggs, beans and toast!”

sweat accumulating on the tip of his nose
dripped and salted the food on the stove
a marinade that ferments and bubbles up
odours diffused and absorbed by the room
the harsh light highlighted the shimmering heat
pearls of dew that coat the food like a sweat

a charred turd of processed meat
impaled on a fork gobs its fat
dribbles of saturates pool on the plate
marbling into a broken yoke
the congealed juices bedding like an alluvium
as my heart winced and took the strain

“enjoy it. animals have fucked and died for this.”

joke!

her breasts had been full of milk, her belly full of life

her legs were spread
in an act of faith
as we took a hold of her
and he manipulated the forceps
braced himself and heaved

the guttural cry of pain
the suction of meat
separating from meat
the spewing of blood and mucus
in the stark white cell

ketchup or brown sauce squeezed out like excretions

I braced myself and slurped a slop of stewed tea
tannin staining my tongue like rust
the metallic tasting residue dowsing my salty mouth
and eased through my gullet like bleach
retching free a bilious morsel
I belched life's sickly odour