How to Kill a Rooster

Because he’s spurred you

grab him by his neck and his legs

Hold him in both your hands

Look him in the eye

Let him ask

if you are to kill him today

then tell him yes     say yes

with your own eye

just before you take him

to the clothes line

and tie him up

by his yellow feet

Take a blade

Cut his throat

Watch his blood drip

to the ground

Watch his wings spread

and flap and flap and

while you watch this desperate bird

and think to yourself

I will never be like him

remember in the end you will

drop him in boiling water

pluck each of his oily feathers

between your fingers

Remember in the end

you will taste him

for good

This poem first appeared in Ecotone (Issue 9) and is from Render / An Apocalypse (Cleveland State University Poetry Center, 2013).