[Matt Q]

We Useless Eaters at the Trough

We useless eaters gather at the trough
to gorge ourselves, our useless pig-like throats
choked with the choicest cuts; each eats enough
for three. When we can binge no more, we boast
of all the foreign holidays we’ve taken,
how much we blow on cigarettes and drink,
share tips on how to best fake desperation
and tricks to look more crippled or more sick
so as to scrounge more cash. Before we snooze,
we do not kneel to offer prayers of thanks
to those hard-working families whose food
we have purloined. Instead, we graze on snacks,
then uselessly we sleep for useless hours.
Then come the men to take us to the showers.
.

[Glenn Wright]

Hi, Matt—

A very dark view of human nature, indeed.
The last line comes as a surprise, but I think the reader has been prepared to cheer on the men taking us to the showers, since our existence is so unjustifiable.

The reference to the showers is a dangerously loaded allusion to the Holocaust. The danger is that the piece could be read as a justification of that genocide. The anti-Semitic propaganda used by Nazi Germany cast Jews in the role of useless parasites.

Who, exactly, did you intend the “we” to be?

Glenn

[James Midgley]

Hey Matt,

I'm not entirely sure what to suggest with this -- because I've flip-flopped over it for the last little while.

It takes an enormous risk -- because until the final line, the poem really pretty much reads as if it believes what it's saying. I think it's that risk that made me stop to comment on it -- the risk is what I find impressive here, what I really enjoyed (if enjoyed is right).

That said, when I began to dig into the poem with that moment put aside, I began to sort of wonder what was left. That is to say -- everything about the poem, at least for me, seems to hinge entirely on that complete shift of tone. What comes before the volta (too light a term, here) isn't without its 'pleasures' -- the rhythm is well handled, the rhymes arrive with that pleasing sense of inevitability, and the sound-patterning works (maybe a little too hard on L3) -- but it doesn't do much imaginative leaping beyond the vile stereotypes it's illustrating (because it probably can't within this setup).

I also begin to have doubts about the final line -- though it's doing exactly the right sort of work. Even on a topic like this, which clearly has much in common with the caricaturing of the underclasses and therefore also the holocaust, the "showers" arrives as both shocking and glib at the same time. Like the ur-placeholder for this sort of thing. It doesn't completely conceptually creak -- one can imagine showering off a pig, after all (and all jokes aside) or prisoners, say. But it's hard to get past.

I think I may need to spend a little more time thinking about the poem -- but these are my first reactions to it -- and a great deal of this poem is very evidently about first reactions. And I hope these ones are of some use.

Cheers

[Alex Pepple]

Hello Matt,

Your poem "We Useless Eaters at the Trough" is a powerful and disturbing piece that requires careful reading.

This sonnet employs devastating irony by adopting the perspective of those who vilify welfare recipients and the disadvantaged. The title itself references dehumanizing propaganda historically used against vulnerable populations - "useless eaters" was Nazi terminology for those deemed unworthy of life.

While the poem's strength lies in how it builds this hateful caricature before delivering its shocking final line, the execution could be refined. The middle section (particularly lines 7-10) where you depict "faking desperation" feels somewhat heavy-handed. The satirical intent is clear, but these lines might benefit from more subtle imagery that allows readers to arrive at conclusions themselves rather than being told explicitly about "tricks to look more crippled."

While the Holocaust reference in the final line delivers a powerful punch, it risks overshadowing the poem's broader commentary. Some readers might find this comparison disproportionate or potentially trivializing to Holocaust victims. Perhaps a more gradual build toward this revelation might better prepare the reader for such a weighty comparison.

The sonnet form is mostly well-executed, though the volta could be more clearly articulated - the shift from gorging to sleeping doesn't provide quite enough contrast before the final revelation.

This is challenging, political poetry with important things to say, but could benefit from a slightly lighter touch in places to let its powerful message resonate more fully.

Cheers,
...Alex

[Max Goodman]

This packs a punch.

It starts slow. The first three lines make the same point three times.

After the first read, I wondered whether first-person served the poem well. Not only is the voice of the poem unreliable, not only does the poem wait until the final line to make clear that that unreliability is intentional (that it isn't the poem itself that the reader should distrust), why, on top of that, project that unreliable voice into the mouths of people who do not believe the things they are saying? On reflection, the convolution feels like a part of experiencing the poem, which isn't meant to be easy. And a third-person voice condemning these people would probably be even more off-putting.

FWIW.

[Joe Crocker]

Hi Matt.
The sense I get in this is one of self-loathing. The “we” narrator seems to be deliberately exaggerating their nature in a way to draw others contempt. They even go so far as to indulge the others’ conspiracy theories, ie not only are “we” fat, lazy & ungrateful, “we” are secretly planning on how much more we can squeeze out of the system and hard-working folks’ pockets. “We” therefore deserve a one-way trip to the showers. Painful & disturbing.

“Purloin” (L12) is an interesting choice of words. For me it has a sense of the grandiose and ridiculous. But I note that the dictionary defines it as “to appropriate wrongfully and often by a breach of trust” which makes sense in this poem’s context.

[Jim Moonan]

.
Matt, I found it an "easy" read in that it never strays from the singular image of those who are viewed as useless by a segment of society that is, ironically, useless (to me, anyway).

The slant-rhyming throughout creates an aching for locked-in rhyme, which only contributes to the power pent in the poem.

I’m still pondering the final two lines. I didn’t expect it to make such a sharp turn toward institutionalization, or worse, nazi-like final solution. After a slew of off rhymes, the final lines have a clarion feel to them.

The glue to the poem is its surreal depiction of those who are pigeonholed by the selfish, narcissistic societies of I-Me-Mines. Alex describes it as a political poem, but that is only one stage upon which the real tragedy is played out: human hubris. The poem paints the downfallen as swine; a scourge on society vs. a reflection of it. In a word: useless.

If I were to assign the poem to be a particular depiction of reality, it is one of the moral decay that rampant consumerism and unbridled commercialism/capitalism spawns. Opportunity is not a path to fairytale endings for everyone. Free enterprise is a double-edged dull sword that can eviscerate some.

It's got some Camus in it. The "we" of the poem is a powerful voice that seems to whisper "you".

It’s a deep dive into a murky/clear pool, Matt; deep and deft and devastating.

.

[Max Goodman]

Joe points to an element of my experience of the poem I neglected to mention.

The opening felt like it expressed self-loathing, and loathing for whole human race. Gradually I realized that the loathing was focused on a more specific group and (at about the same time) that the criticism was coming from outside that group. Welfare recipients? The "choicest cuts" and foreign trips worked against that, but it seemed the most likely, until the final line made me feel the target was Jews (or possibly that the poem was drawing a parallel between attitudes toward welfare recipients and German pre-WWII attitudes toward Jews). The early mention of pigs resonated with this being about Jews.

[Alessio Boni]

Hi Matt,

This is a very gritty poem. It has the tone of De Sade whenever he described a clergy member in any of his stories, and seeing that the theme relates to the Holocaust, it is really a brutal poem.

I'd like to echo Joe's comment, and say that it is really a prime poem in which self - loathing, and more than anything else, self - deception is highly apparent, and an example of the latter was the case for many heretics, such as the 'Valdesiani' in the 1600's in Piedmont who had come to loathe themselves after countless persecutions, and subsequently, inquisitory propaganda of what their sect represented; witches, sorcerers, and esoteric degenerates etc. Your poem reminded me of such a dynamic.

Although for the sake of the jews, fortunately, the large majority didn't believe in such propaganda, being subjected to infinitely worse punishments in mass compared to the formerly mentioned religious group..

Just a thought I wanted to share.

I like it!

[Susan McLean]

Matt, I picked up quickly that the disgust was coming from outside the "we." It also seemed to me that the benefits the speaker mentioned were exaggerated in the minds of those outsiders, who after dehumanizing the speaker would be quite comfortable with having the speaker and his sort eliminated. Like Alex, I thought of the current attitudes toward recipients of welfare of various kinds. The Nazi parallels are unmistakable. The brutal tone seemed fitting for the subject of a scathing satire, and the emphatic closure of the final rhyme also seemed appropriate.

Susan