Triple check the joist hooked
from your garage ceiling
is rated for at least 97 pounds.
Spear his calves with T-hanger
with gambrel & let the rusty hitch
of your truck do the hard work
of pulling cord taut till he’s vertical
as Christ on a 2x4. Pray
for the palms preparing supper. So
your own. Slit the olive skin
around his sissyboy ankles. &
remember The key to good meat
is separation from its fur.
Grind your skinning knife
sharper than obsidian.
Blade incisions precise at 10
& 2 & steer his hide down
toward the slop bucket
brim red with offal. Keep
going or his body might warm
into another kind of kneejerk
wriggling like an unfrozen fish
tossed silvery pond thawed of
guilt & comatose motion.
Not a kindness. Wash him
gently with a hose. Know deep
un-downed he is only meat & bones.
Wipe the blood
first from your floors
second your conscience.