Chicken Dinners & the 5 Stages of Grief 10/21/25

Stage 1, Denial

We found out, when there was no longer anything we could do about it,

that we'd been wrong. Kept like hens in a house, thinking we

were sitting so pretty. We had no idea what was to become of us.

Stage 2, Anger

It was when we saw our mothers, daughters, and sisters fail

to escape the frenzy. Tarred and feathered. Drawn and quartered.

Only when their throats were sliced did we begin to see each other differently.

Stage 3, Bargaining

Witnessing our best hanging there, picked and plucked, made us never want to look at one another. To never see or be seen.

It is easier to hide and hope you aren't next.

Stage 4, Depression

We had to convince ourselves as we bled out on our front lawns,

that we had been tricked into believing we were safe.

Thought that we meant so much more just to be betrayed so horribly in the end.

Stage 5, Acceptance

They let us get comfortable enough

to want to be the best version of ourselves.

Just so they could chop us up and eat us in casseroles.