17 Dec 2011

MRS SCROOGE.


Scrooge doornail-dead, his widow, Mrs Scrooge, lived by herself
in London Town. It was that time of year, the clocks long back,
when shops were window-dressed with unsold tinsel, trinkets, toys,
trivial pursuits, with sequinned dresses and designer suits,
with chocolates, glacé fruits and marzipan, with Barbie,
Action Man, with bubblebath and aftershave and showergel;
the words Noel and Season's Greetings brightly mute
in neon lights. The city bells had only just chimed three,
but it was dusk already. It had not been light all day.
Mrs Scrooge sat googling at her desk,
Catchit the cat
curled at her feet; snowflakes tumbling to the ground
below the window, where a robin perched,
pecking at seeds. Most turkeys,
bred for their meat, are kept in windowless barns,
with some containing over 20,000 birds. Turkeys
are removed from their crates and hung from shackles
by their legs in moving lines. A small fire crackled
in the grate. Their heads are dragged under
a water bath - electrically charged - before their necks
are cut. Mrs Scrooge pressed Print.
She planned
to visit Marley's Supermarket (Biggest Bargain Birds!) at four.

- By Carol Ann Duffy with illustrations by Posy Simmonds (2008)

Not usually a big fan of Carol Ann Duffy, I love this poem which can be read in its entirety by clicking HERE.

12 comments:

NRIGirl said...

That was funny!

Now, is it true what they do to turkeys? I am afraid to even google it up :(

Sheila (Bookjourney) said...

HI Tracy! I finally made it in for a visit - and I bring hot cocoa :) I signed up for the World Book Night... how cool it would be to be a part of this!

StarTraci said...

What an interesting twist on the Scrooge tale and an eye-opening view of the tradition and it's dark side. I'm with your first commenter -- I'm afraid to google it!

Merry Christmas to my now-fowl friend as it does seem to be a happy one for the turkey!

:-)
Traci

Suko said...

Poor turkeys!

Kelly said...

This is certainly different!!

The Bookworm said...

oh my gosh, is that really how they treat those poor turkeys :(
I like that Mrs Scrooge printed that out to show the turkey shoppers in this little story.

Full-On-Forward said...

I just want to Gobble Gobble--;_)

J

Sridharan said...

Something different indeed..!

Gina said...

Oddly satisfying....I must read more. Thanks for the link! ^_^

Dorte H said...

Haha, it is certainly more tempting than The Book of a Thousand Days.

Karen said...

Yikes. You always find the greatest things!

Happy holidays Petty!

Betty Manousos said...

that was really funny.

this is totally different.

what a delightful post!
xx