The “Talking turkeys”

Hello guys! Today i am going to write about a poem I like!

“Talking turkeys” is a poem written by Benjamin Zephaniah. The poem gives you the impression that there are talking turkeys in his poem, which there are. The headline doesn´t give you any deeper insight about the theme.

Zephaniah is a strong opponent against animal cruelty and animal killing. In the poem he questions why we eat turkeys on Christmas instead of greens, because they could rather be our friends. He talks to the turkeys like they are one of his friends, and compares the turkey to a human being.

“Talking turkeys!” is a very playful poem. The main speaker is the author; Zephaniah, but he also has a dialog with the turkeys. He has a very oral language, and uses a language one could hear in the Reggie communities or on the streets. The language has many grammatical faults; the writer uses an unusual language, and some unusual punctuation such as Ò and Õ in random words.

I think that the last sentence; “An yu will mek new friends ‘FOR LIFE’.” stands out. “FOR LIFE`” has a double meaning. You can read the sentence right foreword, and it says that you will make new friends for life if you don´t kill the turkey. FOR LIFE also mean that Zephaniah is for life, and not killing. In this sentence, or with these to words he has brought down the meaning of the whole poem.

The style in which the poem has been written is not written under a strict frame. You still understand what the writer is trying to say. It is written a bit relaxed, but the subject is still something the writer cares a lot about. It is a rhythm in the poem; the word turkey is repeating itself during throughout the text.

What I like about this poem is how the poem is a bit untraditional and playful with the style and the grammatical language. Additionally, I also think that it is important to take care of animals. When I read the poem I feel like Zephaniah is talking to me because the language is oral, and that gives me a bigger impact. It has an important message!

-Hannah