Mike White

THE FRESHMAN ESSAY
(IN A NEW VERSE TRANSLATION)

The question one will argue in this essay is what is a cannibal.
You are so wrong if you said “a kind of animal.”

Fact: they are not like a dark stranger.
Fact: they are much endanger.

Maybe you think just because you are you
you would not do what they do.

Well think again civilized man and/or woman.
Plane crash must eat frozen dead co-pilot proves ordinary people can.

Let us now consider the state of nature,
a spot of time when toil-free work and whore-mongering made life richer.

Another point is what is so gross anyway about people meat.
One went to Chinatown one time and saw chicken feet.

In conclusion we are too full of ourselves here in the West.
(Can you let me know if the last day to drop this class has passed?)

—from Rattle #33, Summer 2010
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