Secret Teeth
Trash cans ate
syringes and good intentions
each time success escaped
the grasp of latex gloves and lab coats
The scientists begged each new batch of cells
to please multiply into the perfect meat
that never bleeds or needs to sleep or eat
But they never mentioned dreaming
Upon success, the commercials assured
that the raw cubes infused with extra protein
could help save the world which was gasping for air
and grasping for another chance
The animals that survived
all hid in the shadows and pulled knives
when we tried to outsmart them
And not many things grow in the soil
where our hatred exploded
Factories followed the lead scientist’s careful specifications
to produce quiet, profit-sized, edible squares
that don’t sleep or eat or bleed
Manufactured meat slabs would never dream
of breaking free
They were infused with extra proteins
and something else, it seemed
The manufactured meat
had secret teeth that sank venom
into our veins
and drained away the people
they were meant to feed
Save the world
Save the animals
And the perfect meat
infused with secret teeth
found new houses
and ate and slept and dreamed
but they never once
made the earth bleed
Image description – photograph is of the skeletal frame and empty inside of a burned-down house
I wrote this poem after reading that scientists have found a way to grow meat in a lab from stem cells of animals. This meat production method sounds like it could be a good idea. Maybe it’s a good idea. Maybe nothing will go wrong, but so many things could. What if the manufactured meat wasn’t soulless cubes that would just willingly allow themselves to be consumed?