It begins with the bird

freezer-packed headless

in a chilly grocery store aisle

a mother, her toddler's doughy legs

threaded through the cart

takes no time to pore over her options

and hauls the cheapest one out of

it's frozen grave

was it brain-damaged?

is it missing an arm?

no matter.

Her husband won't be there to

carve off the first piece

with the glittering electric knife

she had bought with his pension

he won't be there to run his

fingers down her shoulder blade

or to pour the wine

as her child, their child,

licks his fingers

he has no sense of fine taste

stuffs the turkey into

his every orifice

it begins with the bird

freezer-packed headless

in a chilly grocery store aisle

a young man, his hair curled

tightly to his head

strides along, eyeing his options

and toying with the zipper on his

suede coat

this turkey matters to him

spiced, grade AA, pre-stuffed

every step should be simple,

but look otherwise

he wants her to watch him

up to his elbows in this poultry's

gut

she needs to smile at him

lean forward on the barstool

and meet his hand after it's

washed

he doesn't tell her

because she probably already

knows

his visit ends not with this turkey dinner

and the delicious burned sheen

around it's biceps

but in how her fork with clatter

to her plate when she's finished

and then eye him

and lead him upstairs

It begins with the bird

freezer-packed headless

in a chilly grocery store aisle

a man, his cart protesting

as he leans over the plastic handle

runs his fingers over the Sara Lee

frozen dinners

the surface ice rolling under his fingernails

and one turkey

lettering strained across plastic wrapping

the name is generic

but it intrigues him

the idea of eating a turkey

there are no neighbours, decrepit old aunts

to share it with

But dim memories of his mother

recycling turkey into all manner of

sandwiches, soups

wiping the oil on her quilted smock

makes him smile

so he waltzes to the teenage cashier

shells out the starched bills

meets her purple-eyeliner and grins

it doesn't leave him either,

even as he walks out

into the rain