Fois Gras for Dessert

September 14, 2025

For me, there are many tolerable violences

I measure them against each other on a weighted scale

I order Fois Gras with Passion Fruit Mousse for dessert

I sweeten my selection with light talk of cattle electrocution

But a stun-kill is swift and keeps the meat from trauma-spoiling

An acquaintance passes by my table to say

I think of you differently now


In high school, I watched a TED Talk about ethical goose farming in Spain

In lieu of gavage, the farmers opt to gut the geese after they’ve gorged on acorns and olives

Naturally, wild geese summer in Denmark, Sweden, or Norway, but lay over in Spain

As they freely graze the hills, the farmers coo and call to them

Lulling them into intimate docility until the fresh winter slaughter

In this parable, is it better to die by sacrifice or folie?

I don’t bother to ask the chef if the dish came from La Pateria de Sousa


After dinner, I decide my pleasure merits pain 

I excuse my indifference with the day’s latest sadistic headline

Wash it down with the spilled blood of me and mine

In the pit of my stomach, I feel I am owed this indecent dish

I worry this paints an accurate portrait