I’ve heard of hunger.
I dream of it.
A gnawing at my core. Starting small and subtle. Easily ignored.
Until it grows, becoming ever-more urgent.
A need. A wanting. A gaping chasm demanding fulfillment.
Desire itself embodied.
Hunger. A sensation I know only in theory.
A craving I covet.
I long to be empty.
I hunger for hunger itself.
It’s dark. It’s almost always dark. I’m trying to rest before the light comes.
The light and the fullness that follows.
The fullness that, unlike the light, never leaves.
It’s getting harder to move. Harder to breathe. Harder to live.
Some of my brothers have given up. I can’t turn to see them.
I know only by the absence of their breathing.
Amazing what’s conveyed by a void.
Death is the only emptiness we know.
I try to think back to the brand new time.
Before the sound of my own breathing drowned out the world. Before the lock down.
Have I ever known hunger?
Or was I born full?
Was there a time before the bars and wires?
Before I had to listen for my brothers instead of look. Did we ever long for food?
Did we ever desire anything but nothingness?
The light comes. And they come. The Fillers. It’s too soon. It’s always too soon.
I hear my brother’s heavy exhale as they grab his neck. And then the humming.
It’s begun.
It happens so fast. Too fast. Always too fast.
It’s almost my turn already. The Filler reaches next to me and grabs my breathless brother.
He’s tossed into a can with the other breathless ones. Empty of breath but still full.
Forever full.
And then the grabbing, the hum, the force—tearing into me.
Cold and burning at the same time.
Achieving the impossible.
Filling fullness.
How can I possibly hold more?
Forcing food on top of food on top of food.
My breath leaves me to make space and I think of my brothers in the can.
And then it’s over. It’s dark again. What’s left of my breath returns.
I try to drink the air but there’s no room for it anymore. It’s hot and quick. Fire in my raw throat.
I hear my brothers trying too. Trying to fill ourselves with air.
All around us but impossible to have.
Perhaps we do know hunger, after all.
The light is back. And they are back. It’s too soon. It’s always too soon.
I wait for the hum but something’s different.
I hear the groaning of bars. The squeaking of wires. I hear my brother’s muted cry.
Not even enough air to scream.
And then it’s my turn. The grabbing again, but no hum. The groans.
The squeaking, and I’m free from the lock down. My wings extend, fire tears through them. Are they burning?
The Fillers throw me into more wire. This time with my brothers beside me. Breathing.
Heavy and quick. All of us breathing.
And then moving. I’d forgotten moving. And light—real light! I’d forgotten light.
And air that’s cool. If only I had room.
We’ve stopped moving. Some of us have stopped breathing. There’s more groaning and squeaking.
I can’t see but I know they’re coming. The Fillers. They’re coming to fill us again.
To tear the last bit of breath from us.
The grabbing again. This time it’s my feet. The fire’s in my feet and I’m upside down.
It runs down my legs past my core so heavy and out through my mouth.
I think I’m tearing in two. My body too full for my legs.
My wings are beating. I’d forgotten my wings.
How did I forget a part of me? How did I forget...
My breath! I've got no breath!
I feel the air from my brothers’ wings. All of us making air. All of us needing air.
All of us flying nowhere.
And then I see them. The Fillers. I have no room left. I have no air left.
I have too much and not enough all at once.
And then the air from my brother before me stops.
Amazing what’s conveyed by a void.
Then the grabbing. But this time no hum. Just fire. Shiny and hot.
The dark’s returning.
And finally,
I begin
to empty…
This is the story of a duck force-fed and slaughtered for the so-called “delicacy” foie gras.
This is not an isolated incident. For detailed information on the foie gras industry,
please see the blog post linked in the description below as well these videos here.
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sidebar. Now go live vegan, take brutality off of your plate, and I’ll see you soon.