Chiara Di Lello: Living Cells
Photo: Joanna C. Valente
honey
I cannot compare our life to the bees’
or I can, but would be at a loss
when I get to the honey
but insofar as the long waits
the sealing up of sweetness
to save for later
the dances before each others’ bodies
that are maps, landscapes of a distant
glowing destination, well –
meat science
they call it cell-based not body-based
but what makes a body
when there’s no there, there
is it cold comfort, a clean kill?
if we call it clean what’s
dirty? if you don’t kill it, is it
kosher? how far
for a clean conscience?
lab-grown in vitro ought to be
clear as glass
not fake meat, ultra meat
not Big Ag, cell ag
is it FDA or USDA?
it’s TBD
but you know they don’t cook
in Silicon Valley
what will we stake
on fake steak?
where does the rubber-meat
rubber meet the road
when we’re suckled on that
chicken breast from childhood
can you match that for mouthfeel?
can plants supplant the meat industry?
what does your culture have to say
about cultured meat?
don’t forget your beef
is plant-based, too
this little ton of corn
went to market
Kobe? Okay but we’d rather
be everywhere
we’d rather you get it
for less
a race to the bottom
of a bioreactor
face the fake meat facts:
it’s salt that salves the senses
and what they bleed for is that
yeast-bred hema
what’s in the bag / in the
burger / in the box
just tell me:
am I eating an animal?
am I eating fear?
if most food products are
Generally Recognized as Safe
then grass-fed beef leads to
GRAS-fed human
and would you rather
eat your ethics
or eat your words?
the idea is not to make a difference
the idea is to make a sale
a tub of living cells
to drown that sacred cow
Chiara Di Lello is a writer and teacher whose work has appeared in Noble / Gas Qtrly, Best New Poets, and Kissing Dynamite, among others. Her loyalties lie solidly with public transportation, public art, and public libraries. Her lessons are peppered with Star Wars references.
