Gael Attal Poet Rhyme

Give a Man a Sea-Kitten

Give a man a sea-kitten,
And you feed him for a day.
Teach a man how to sea-kitten,
And PETA will make him pay.

I guess there isn’t much to say,
We’re gonna eat them either way,
Because the message here being conveyed
Does not have to do with fish per se.

Instead we feel the need to build
A foundation where we can rest our guilt.
Or where we can sway, or push, or tilt
The basis of sanity. And watch it wilt.

Humans are actually land-dodos.
A tree is also a green-giraffe.
But no name we will ever sow
Will ever cease to make me laugh.

I mean, how bored do you have to be
In a world with war and disease uprising
To stop what you’re doing and decide: “Here see,
Fish are in trouble. Start compromising.”?

Man is the measure of these extents.
The apex of idiocy slips his mind,
And thus he chooses to invent
Another means to thwart mankind.

We’re defending the rights of things we need.
Things we need for survival, like skin.
And in our greed we fail to read
The paradox lying herein and within.
Among all the things that humans bleed for,
Nothing more imbecilic has ever been,
Than renaming the fish of which we feed
Into something like sea-kitten.

“And then Jesus blessed the sea-kittens,
He broke the bread and divided it amongst 5000 people.”

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Vince Suzadail Jr. January 28, 2009 at 5:08 AM Why Not? Liberals have called illegal aliens "unregistered citizens." Everybody has a cause but these people would be the first ones munching on a can of tuna had they been hungry. They are also the first ones branding a kid because he made some wrong choices. Great perceptive write. God Bless. Vince

Donna Golden January 26, 2009 at 8:44 PM Would it be wrong of me to say, "Meow"? Sorry, I felt the sudden urge. In all seriousness, I absolutely LOVE this poem. I will put it in my favorites for two reasons: 1). I loved the form and the clever phrasing 2). I think you've brilliantly stated my own beliefs on how we, as humans, can miss the mark so completely with regards what is important and relevant. Fantastic, Gael! Donna G.