Death and Dirt

Don't let the clean gallons-
plastic, white and gleaming
behind the glass- fool you:
milk still comes from the warm,
pink teats of a cow, its hoofed legs
likely up to their bony ankles
in manure before milking.

And days before they slipped
into squeaky foam cartons,
eggs turned and dropped
from the canals of chickens,
smells of sticky feathers
and the shuffling flocks
molting off their shells
as they are boxed.

Don't think that because you are
vegetarian or vegan that you can
escape death or dirt.
I once saw a tiller snare and slice
a panicked rabbit, hidden
behind the artichokes.
Its blood fed the living soil,
where microorganism hoards
feed the plants that feed us.
They eat what is dead,
and all our ancestors die again
and rise again from the Earth.