I’m Listening

I’m Listening.
Listening to rabid snarling
While they tear each other’s flesh
With perfectly managed teeth.
Whimpering.
One beast dominates the other.
Crowd cheers more and more
Like a home team
With the winning touchdown.
The injured is down
But not without a fight
Staggering toward his
Eventual assassin
If he’s lucky to die quickly.

His body,
A connect the dots poster
From bite marks.
Enough blood pours
To attract a bull.
Blinded from swelling.
Soreness of open skin
Around his eyes.
Jowls ripped.
Dangling pieces of tissue
Hanging on like a finger to a cliff.

A creature’s will to fight,
Broken.
All he can do is wish
For this hell to end
And lay down
As it burns to do so.
Ribs shattered from takedown.
His throat a wide open target
For his newly found nemesis
To finish the job.
The Frankenstein of a predator
Tears the larynx out from his prey.

A battle won, at expense.
To the wounded victor
Goes the deadly spoils.
An alpha male of a lifetime
In championship bouts in the pit.
Train hard to find
Love and affection
From his mad scientist.
He can longer compete.
Wounds too deep.
Too harsh to heal.
His owner has to do
What he has to do.
No longer champion
No emotional
Financial value.

Many methods for this deed.
One last dip in ice water T
akes a few minutes to inhale
After he panics.
The old fashion rope around the neck
To hang while he struggles to breathe.
No.
His dog was brutal.
His death shall match.
A rope still around the neck.
Slinging around up in the air.
Broken bones.
Bruises.
Mutilation from direct impact
Of concrete smash
With vigor to match Barry Bonds.
His body limp, from paralysis.
One more time for good measure.
Torture over.
No more carnage.

Two monsters humbled with fatality
By ignorance to a family
That would,
Love them.
Kiss them.
Give them scratches on the head.
Behind the ears.
A warm bed.
A full tummy to rub.
A game of horseplay.
A game of fetch.
A walk.
A run.
Delicious treats
Instead for mauling fellow pups,
To sit.
Stay.
Roll over.
Jump.
Speak.
Humans profit from death.
It doesn’t stop with dogs.
They’re just in style.

“Because it’s been around for centuries,
It would be foolish
To abolish such opportunistic profit
From beings less than human.”
Familiar sounds
Justify continuation.
Continuation of their own chapter
Of slavery,
With slaves who don’t even know it.

 

LUCCI (which stands for Listening, Understanding, Caring, Considering, Inquiring) is a poet, an actor and aspiring comedian who enjoys being creative while making positive change and entertaining in the process. He has featured in such places as Boston Talent Showcase, Wierdstock 2011, The 2nd Annual Haught Pink Breast Cancer Fashion Show, Writer’s Block, and also had a role in the independent film Supa Dupa.