A Place At The Table
it wasn’t as if
I had that much to say
or that I was
all that hungry
but it was a free lunch
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I had to thank someone
but didn’t want to stop eating
long enough to say anything
if I didn’t say something
I would be asked to leave
before I’d had my fair share
<>
all around me
people were eating
a sandwich in one hand
a pork chop in the other
no one was listening
all intent on getting our fill
elbowing one another
out of the way
to get the next scrumptious plate
<>
there was no time to talk
no time to say ‘excuse me’
no one passed anything to one another
we each reached out for more
not wanting to stop
long enough
to say thank you
our appetite was
our expression of deep gratitude
for this abundance
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once the food was gone
the dishes were licked clean
I started in on the table legs
someone else nibbled
on the table cloth
we kept eating what was in front of us
because once that was gone
we would turn on one another
saying thanks
between mouthfuls
of each other
I wrote this after rewatching either Fellini’s Satyricon or La grande bouffe with a friend who had never seen either. If you haven’t seen either – see them before reading any further lol. Each is about appetite & there are extensive eating sequences that go on & on. The banquet food orgy in Satyricon is stunning & numbing.
Most animals eat when they are hungry & then enough to stay alive, many won’t eat what isn’t good them – humans will eat without hunger. We will eat things that aren’t necessary but are tasty – i.e. there is no actual nutritional need for chocolate. Yet, very few of us will say no it & those that do for dietary (diabetes) reason feel they are experience a painful sacrifice. I had a friend who was told for health-reasons, to cutback on cheese & she was like ‘what! how can I do that?’
It’s also a variation on the recurring theme – there is no such thing as enough. In our consumer culture we are encouraged to always want more whether we need it or not. Being satisfied is seen as being an under-achiever, as someone falling short of their full potential, as someone who isn’t adding anything to the gross national product – those that aren’t upwardly mobile as drag on society & end up, in many cases, as the dregs – homeless, lazy slugs trying to deprive that haves of their guiltless bliss.
Keep in mind that these pieces are in response to the Rules for Buddhist monks. The rules were intended to keep the monks’ lives simpler by removing the need to worry about things like what to wear, how many processions to own, so they wouldn’t be distracted from their disciple by things like what to wear, changing fashions, food fads etc. They strove to be undefined by commercial culture.
Just think empty our lives would be without knowing what was worn on the red carpet at the latest awards ceremony. How do we find a sense of self without striving for the next almond milk, gluten free, fair-trade, low foam, tofu latte?
TOpoet 