Poem in which Prometheus is also the Father of Various Roast Meats


I can't remember the source
of a quote scribbled in my notebook:
"Why should the thirst for knowledge
be aroused, only to be disappointed
and punished?" Something to do
with Prometheus, famous fire-
stealer; and the eagle or vulture
the gods sent to feast every day
on his innards. The liver
which the bird pecks at replicates
itself and is whole again by morning,
for the point the gods seem to want
to make is that they can do
the same thing over and over
without having to consider
there could be a different result:
you in your place and me in mine,
but you wear the chains, bro.
Until, in the next part of the story,
Heracles kills the eagle and frees
the hero dear to those who consider
themselves revolutionary.
That his deed is meant
to illustrate the arrival
of civilization is cultural
anthropology. In other words,
the difference between the raw
and the cooked, though this
has been shown to be largely
accidental: a pen full of pigs
catches fire and opens the door
to a world of cochinillo and pork
belly buns. And I remember
that one of the earliest
things my in-laws and I
bonded over was a dish
of pan-braised liver
and onions, cooked down
over a low fire, which no one
else in the family would touch.




 

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