When did we first witness
A shiny metal hook
Sink deeply into a human back,
Deeply enough to hold
The struggling figure
Securely suspended,
Like a well-caught fish on a hook?
Sometimes the blood-red,
Bone-white spine
Was pulled through
The victim's back
By the weight and writhing
Of the human body.
Imagine that!
We have seen the newsreels
Of the Jews they called vermin,
Hung neatly in a row
On Nazi meat hooks
In respectable German cellars,
Hung neatly in a row
Like little caps
Hung neatly in a row
In a neighborhood kindergarten in winter.
Imagine that!
Oh students
Of Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven,
Oh singers
Of Gregorian Chant,
Imagine that!
Together, we enjoyed watching
Leatherface on the wide screen
As he skewered the screaming girl
Securely on the meat hook,
So he could finish preparing
In his butcher's kitchen
For the evening meal.
Retailers say,
"Fear is created by the merchandise."
First the merchandise is presented,
Then comes the fear.
And the fear is transforming.
In Kubrick's stunning overture
To 2001: A Space Odyssey
("Dawn of Man"),
The ape-men (Australopithecus)
See the black monolith
For the first time,
Circle it cautiously,
Jibbering in fear,
Then touching
The great object of peril
Oh so tentatively
Before exploring,
Finally caressing
The truth.
First comes the merchandise,
Then comes the fear.
And the fear is transforming.
The fear of Australopithecus
Transforms the useless thigh bone
Into a club of death,
A prehistoric meat hook
With which the primordial ape-man
Can now see his way
To kill his same-species rival
At the waterhole.
Homicidal man is born,
Master over his enemies
Now so easily verified
With his new tool of destruction.
Together, we enjoyed watching
Leatherface on the wide screen
As he skewered the screaming girl
Securely on the meat hook,
So he could finish preparing
In his butcher's kitchen
For the evening meal.
The mind and heart
Of the Western World,
The Roman Empire,
Perfected the practice
Of crucifixion.
They nailed those enemies
Who threatened the order of the State
To a cross,
Enemies like the Jew Jesus,
Who hung on the Roman meat hook
To assuage the common fear
Of the good citizens of Rome.
Later, the new order
Of Western Civilization
Is the Christian Church.
Christianity itself
Had become the meat hook.
If a man is afraid,
He will protect himself with something frightening.
The enemies of the Christian State
Were treated with ritual torture
That led to confession,
That led to being tied to the stake,
The medieval meat hook,
So the enemy could be burned alive,
Affirming the safety
Of good Christians everywhere.
Together, we enjoyed watching
Leatherface on the wide screen
As he skewered the screaming girl
Securely on the meat hook,
So he could finish preparing
In his butcher's kitchen
For the evening meal.
Everything began with the meat hook.
First came the merchandise,
Then came the fear.
And the fear is transforming.
Hence we have the progress
Of Western Civilization
Hanging on a meat hook.
Or Western Civilization itself
Is the meat hook,
And we are the meat.
We have Western Civilization's
Philosophy of the meat hook,
The meat hook as foundation
Of the mind-body problem,
The Tree of Knowledge
In the Garden of Eden
As meat hook.
The Devil as meat hook.
So we swallow the meat hook
Without being asked
For our own peace of mind.
Meathook.
Then there is silence.
Raymond Keen’s poems have been published in The American Poetry Review, Pemmican Press, The Smoking Poet, Breadcrumb Scabs and Pismire.
Although Raymond has had an interest in poetry for many years, his profession has been psychology: Three years as a Navy Clinical Psychologist with a year in Vietnam (July 1967-July 68); the rest as a School Psychologist in the USA and overseas. He retired from psychology in 2006.
Raymond lives with his wife Kemme in Sahuarita, Arizona. They have two grown children.
Comments (closed)
david sabosky
2011-03-02 09:05:17
Ray, did this come from supressed religion or from the dream, or rather nightmare??
Haunting and devestatingly creative. Micro managing time in sequense of atricities is the cronicle of human degradation.
Loved it.
Jorge Camara
2011-03-02 16:27:40
Dark, true, and eloquently put. It proves to show that the human race especially in the West, will never evolve or advance as long as we continue to rely on this hook (i use hook as a generalization for all technology)for improving both our internal and external affairs.
Hope to hear from you soon Ray! We're all waiting for another poem!
Take Care