Shark fin soup

The fish that
Most everyone hates
Its name,
The Shark

The dislike has
Been around, near forever
But only with “Jaws”
Did it turn from dislike to hate

At first we killed
For sport or out of fear
Now we kill for
The sharks fins
Dorsal, pectoral, pelvic, anal and caudal (tail)

The shark is caught
sometimes on (long) line, sometimes in nets
It is brought on board
Out of the life giving sea
Into the suffocating air

The shark is held in place
Sometimes killed, sometimes not

The fins are cut off
One at a time
First the largest
Then down in size
Until the
Smallest in size is cut off

The shark without fins
Is just a shape
Called a fusiform
And similar to a cone and a tube

That once was whole
But now is not
It is skin, organs, muscle, skeleton
Mouth and brain
It is no longer alive and well
Its fins are gone

The shark is thrown over the ships side
This shark is dying
The death will come from
Weeks of agonizing starvation
Hours of breathless suffocation
Or the shark which was once predator
Will become prey for the first and last time
Eaten by what it once ate
The scavengers will put it out of its dying misery
In minutes of painfully getting eaten alive

This was all started
With one knife
One line or net
One person

Just for a single
Bowl of soup
Said to give prestige and status
A single hundred dollar
Bowl of soup
That is not often called
Shark fin
But Fish wing or Prestige Fish

No one knows
Nobody cares
That to make that bowl of soup