Bull

(Sonnet on the latest case of Mad Cow disease in the U.S.)

Corrupt cow carcasses, U.S.D.A.,
So artful in its efforts to conceal,
Sends to the knacker's yard, rather than say
That people are consuming dodgy veal.
Our media talk not of slaughterhouse harms
And industry, of course, is keeping quiet
About conditions in the factory farms,
Animal slums that feed our bullshit diet.
Bought off by butchery to nourish fatties,
Officials mince, determined not to find
The epidemic rot in putrid patties
Creeping dementia in the American mind.
Though they would have us suspend disbelief,
We're left to vainly wonder: where's the beef?

June 2005