Would you
Bite into a watermelon
Without seeds?
Munch on an ear of corn
Without taste?
Suckle the bittersweet juice from
a pomegranate
The size of a baby’s skull?
Chew on a tomato
Grown with fish genes?
Eat bread made with wheat
That can withstand heavy
Clouds of insecticidal mist?
Cook a meal with spicy chili peppers
That can make
Their own herbicide?
A loaded gun
Is no longer required
Simply to play
Russian Roulette with
Your own body.
The game can
Now be played
Much slower
When feasting on
The cisgenic harvest.
Keeping hunger away-----
Original intent-----
Perhaps an excuse-----
By scientists.
The poor are left
To take that gamble.
White rats
In a cage
Took a chance
On a potato
They were fed for dinner.
Liver failure
Weakened immunity:
What they’d gotten
In return.
Will these
Be the effects that
Mistakes of science
Corruptions of nature
Have on us?
A loaded gun
Is no longer required
Simply to play
Russian Roulette with
Your own body.
The game can
Now be played
Much slower
When feasting on
The cisgenic harvest.
I wouldn’t take
Such a chance.
Would you?
[ For Nita B., Miguel Robles,
Rachel Parent & Tami Canal. ]