ONCE UPON A TIME,
“Animal Farm” and other bedtime stories*
I. B. Rad
Once upon a time
in a land called “Free Enterprise”
there lived a farmer
and his herd of chattel.
Now this farmer
ministered to these chattel
according to free market gospel
[when he couldn’t fix prices.]
So whenever the price of chattel soared
[or a tax write-off looked wise]
he “downsized” his herd
obtaining disproportionate profits,
and when prices plummeted
he bred and fattened his chattel,
waiting for more profitable times.
Now such boon and bust cycles
suited these chattel just fine
- or so they were told -
since they were taught
that through scarcity and plenty,
through breeding time and slaughter,
they were always scientifically managed
on the basis of impartial market forces
from which all benefited,
both farmer and chattel.
Consequently, while the farmer grew
disproportionately wealthy
(mightily benefiting from
“corporate-equitable” tax structures
lobbied from his representatives)
his chattel’s lives became
unceasingly bestial and short.
So, to wrap it up,
as this is strictly a poet’s fable,
everyone, especially those grateful chattel,
lived [or was culled]
“happily ever after”
- such are childhood’s sanctioned endings.