Young Writers Society

I thought I already liked this like years ago but I guess I didn't so I got to be the 30th like 😎

Hello, this is gem popping in for a review.

This poem is definitely a tad dark. The title is eye-catching and made me want to read more. At first, the lines tripped me up with their breaks, but upon rereading, it went smoothly. Chickens are indeed primarily hungry and will eat just about anything you put in front of them. I like the first three lines because ignorant bloodlust is a phrase you rarely hear.

I think with pacing, this poem performs better read aloud than in your head as well. I would love to hear you do a reading of it.

A different take slowly develops in the second stanza, as in, I am not sure if we are talking about chickens anymore. The stanza is about benefiting from another's demise, being happy they are gone, and glad for the spoils. After this the last stanza questions whether we should blame this on stupidity or sorrow. I think in the case of chickens its stupidity but are we really talking about chickens?

The chickens become very human in this poem, or perhaps humans were the chickens we found along the way.

Keep writing. I hope my perspective on the poem is helpful.

This is gem signing off~

I'm utterly speechless at this poem about chickens. At first, because it was in the category of humor, I thought it was going to be lighthearted and funny, but... boy was I wrong. I didn't really read into the title that "chickens will eat chicken nuggets without batting an eye" because I was skeptical and honestly confused. But reading the title again after skimming through the poem, I was like "dang..." since that title is something someone would think of and label as "deep thoughts" I think. Then, I recognized it was about cannibalism. Because the title is true yet trippy. You did an incredible job of writing this and catching a readers' attention immediately through the title. I'm thoroughly impressed.

- Lil, aka HalfheartedAmateur

still a good chicken poem

Hi!
Wow! This poem was thought-provoking. Although it is about chickens (at least on the surface level), I feel that the last two stanzas are directed toward humans and their selfishness; as long as one human is doing okay, why does the destruction of other humans matter? That's just my interpretation, and looking at it under that lens is incredible!
I like your stylistic choices, such as no capitalization.
I like the brevity of the poem; it is short and to the point, and does not drag on without needing to.

Hi sound!

This was a really cool poem, it was fun to jump on and see that there were so many chicken poems. The title made me laugh but your poem was actually much deeper than that. It is really cool how you incorporate humor and reality in one poem. Many are scared to write about cannibalism, even in animals. Humans are animals too, some might say. How much does a person have to go through to become instinctual like other animals? A lot to think about even with a topic like this! Good job and keep writing!

I'm so happy someone finally wrote a poem about chicken cannibalism. We've been feeding leftover chicken to our chickens for years. Now that I'm a little older, I've definitely started questioning the moral implications of that - and I think your poem captured the wildness of it all perfect.

I am here to read chicken poems, and chicken poems I have read.

So first can I tell you about capital letterz? I'm kidding that was not my review.

Okay, let's check this out!

Meaning
So... cannibalism - definitely a controversial poetic topic! And I see you've listed this poem in humor rather than in horror -> maybe also controversial; but sometimes the very best humor is funny just because it's dark.

I think that a good humorous poem often is able to enter into either areas that are too dark/traumatic for any other literature to enter, or can speak logic into something that is too controversial / uncomfortable any other way. Humor poetry has a lot of potential to be more than just an uncomfortable chuckle.

I'm trying to read your poem and look for where's the turn to significance ie. why is this important for me to read -> Your final stanza makes a turn towards significance, but I kind of don't get what it's saying to be honest -> the poem itself doesn't really have edges of despair but then that's where the act lands on in the final line. I think maybe in the last stanza you're trying to make some claims about not just chicken-emotions but human emotions too -> in fact the speaker in the whole poem seems to be very-much searching out the mindspace of a chicken in a way that seems to presume some sort of humanity within chickenhood. (Like wow, I've never thought of a chicken having lust before, or rejoicing) - a lot of range of emotion is being ascribed to chickens, which maybe prompts the question -> is the speaker describing chickens at all or merely projecting what they have experienced among humans?

^ This brings me to the point of where I would suggest the poem's significance move towards. I think if you could make some sort of clearer parallel between chicken behavior and human behavior (perhaps in how prideful, competitive, or violent humans actually are) it could be a very powerful piece in addition to being humorful. (did I just make up a word? I'm going to start saying humorful all the time now, don't question it).


Title
I don't know if you know this, but chickens actually have three sets of eyelids - > so the line "without batting an eye" (which I always take to mean not-blinking) is even funnier / more disturbing. One thing I've been thinking about lately, and brought up in a few reviews -> is I think it's a big waste when a title gives away the content of a poem. For instance, if I had a movie about how thanos kills everyone with a big snap, I probably would not call it "the problem of the big snap that kills everyone" - you know what I'm saying? This is especially important in poems that are humorous or horrific, because you don't want to take away the scare or punchline too quick before some drama's built up.

I think there are two solutions / suggestions to this -> either 1) you need some sort of unexpected twist in your poem, so that although the reader is expecting this straightforward dark piece, that isn't all they get, or 2) if you want to lean into the humor, wouldn't it be funnier to have the title be totally unrelated, or unexpected, maybe even contradicting the logic of the poem -> (ie. "chicken-dinner", "mc-chicken", "sonnet on birds and death", "ode to untimely ends", "an eye unblinked"). I think at the moment the title succeeds in being shocking, but he poem itself isn't more shocking than the title. Hope that makes sense!

Form
Overall I think you made wise choices in form to focus on questions within the piece to weave the story. I already mentioned that there's a lot of emotion-heavy language, and that's unexpected in a piece about chickens! I actually think it's good that it's described so dramatically, because it makes the piece more engaging than to just assume that they're doing this by some blind-instinct - it's sicker if there's emotion involved.

I think it's good that it's short and snappy; because one can only read about cannibalism for so long before it gets really blegh - I'm glad you didn't get gory because I don't think this poem needs it. And I like the choice to have lowercased letters too as it feels more like philosophical wisps rather than philosphical treatises that way - a bit more casual, whimsical, and soft.

Overall, an interesting piece that I didn't anticipate to read today! Keep on writing!

~alliyah

RevMo is happening!

such a beautiful masterpiece- brought me to tears

Hey sound!

Happy RevMo! I am absolutely here because you've written a poem with chickens and it's on the checklist challenge xD

I'm not well-versed in poetry reviewing (or writing), so feel free to take my advice with a grain of salt!

never so clear
has the spirit of murder
been put on display
than in the wide-eyed
ignorant blood-lust
of a chicken's desperate hunger
as they devour the meat of their own
without a second thought

what is to be said
of the fowl that eagerly rejoices
in the destruction of their brethren
if it means for them, a full stomach?