poetry
by Billy Faier
Back in the town of Woodstock, New York, before the Aquarian Festival of Music and Art, or
Woodstock, as it quickly came to be called, turned the town into a tourist trap – back in the good old
days – pop stars like Bob Dylan, The Band, Paul Butterfield, Van Morrison and The Incredible String
Band freely walked the streets of the town unencumbered by gawking fans. At that time I was the M.C.
of the Wednesday night poetry reading at the Cafe Espresso, the main hangout of Woodstock's folk and
pop musicians.
It was fairly informal. We all knew each other and the same folks showed up every week to read their
poetry. As the M.C. I didn't mind the occasional poets who availed themselves of our platform to
espouse some cause or other.
One week a man we called No Name, because he refused to tell anyone his name, came to read. He
lived in a small Volkswagen bus with ten miniature poodles. No Name took the stage, haranguing us
with the evils of eating meat. While most of us were carnivores, we accepted his words lovingly, as we
did most of the words and poems of our fellow espousers of radical ideas. But No Name went on and on
and on, describing in great detail the horrors of the slaughter house, the agonies of the animals, the
avariciousness of the capitalistic owners of the meatpacking plants, the ill health of meat eaters, until the
audience (me included) was squirming with impatience and cries of “enough,” “get down,” “I love pork
chops!” and “lets have poodle for dinner,” arose from the house.
I knew my audience contained a few characters who would seriously object to me calling time on No
Name, and so I contented myself with penning the few lines below. He finally concluded his speech. I
then read to the house, much to their delight and my relief, this poem.
Photos by Max Kandler
If we are what we eat
We were what we excrete.
I say we are what we do
And not what we think we are.
SO
Before you toss your cookies
Espousing diets sectarian
Remember this:
Jesus Christ ate meat
And Hitler was a vegetarian.
Cenizo
Second Quarter 2015
11