No Turkey on the Table

Alive, they are ugly–

having descended from a common

dinosaur ancestor with

Tyrannosaurus rex and velociraptor.

Turkeys also taste…yucky.

Huge birds, they are more flesh

and bone than chicken (also share

the same ancestor). Flavors

don’t infuse while cooking,

making them less succulent, juicy.

Turkeys don’t care about the Japanese

aesthetic of eating with the eyes—

an emotion-based bias given

the absence of a turkey’s face (picture

hanging, fleshy flap of blood-filled

snood) on the Thanksgiving table.

Unfortunately, I have an acute palate.

Turkey on my tongue shifts my

eyeballs in their sockets.

Missing a turkey on my Thanksgiving

table is not missing to itself–only

to others. And the best thing

about Thanksgiving? No turkey

leftovers.