Burning, Shedding, Catching by Lucia De Luca

Burning, Shedding, Catching

Transcript:

Honestly, I became vegetarian ten percent because of

the environment and health and animal rights

and ninety percent because I was a teen

who was alive and too terrified

to continue putting anything dead inside of me

Like the same way we can capture death and frame it

on a white plate,

we can catch it like a cold

But still, death wraps me in my fast fashion sweaters,

escapes my car though I don’t have insurance for its flammability,

even sneaks its way inside me through a meatless but foreign avocado

Honestly, I have wiped lipstick made with carmine

off my teeth, careful not to swallow it

I avoid digesting death, but I am hypocritical

in that I’ll wear it because I’m scared

I’ll find myself naked if I rid myself

of everything I consume that causes damage

The irony is that the planet is burning,

and we doodle in the fog on the mirror like it’s a game

and avoid eye contact with ourselves

as we claim we’re not hot enough to shed any layers

Honestly, I have sobbed at open casket funerals,

my panic mistaken for grief

Honestly, our home is the casket,

and we are exposed more now than ever

Honestly, we can capture death,

serve it steaming, but only on an open tray,

chat around it at dinner,

but it doesn’t catch like a cold-

it catches fire

Executive Producers

Karolina Ristevski

Sue White

Elliot Cameron

Daniel Henson