Anastasia Brielle

Anastasia Brielle (an unhyphenated compound first name)
liked to criticize what others ordered for dinner

Steak? She'd rather eat the box her toe-FOO come in
(that's how she pronounced it)
Whenever I was in a restaurant with Anastasia Brielle
I'd order things like bacon cheeseburgers
even when I had been eyeing the vegetarian chili.

Anastasia Brielle (not her real name, but close)
also liked to talk about the horrors of slaughterhouses
even though exactly no one
wanted to hear it.
And though I am mindful of having a number of meatless meals a week
I turned into a raging carnivore around her
I wanted to give chase to whole animals
and take them down
like something on a nature program.
I wanted a Flintstone-sized rack of ribs
to go with that bacon cheeseburger,
maybe also accompanied by a leg of lamb (something I never eat).

Anastasia Brielle (not a friend but a friend of a friend)
didn't seem to like any food except her toe-FOO
I once asked her if she liked anything else
She thought about it:
red onions.

Anastasia Brielle (who had huge loopy doopy cursive handwriting and big poofed up hair)
was happy to tell non-vegetarians
that she preferred people with ETHICS
Gosh, I guess the rest of us sucked 
for not living on toe-FOO.

It's been many years since I've seen Anastasia Brielle (YAY)
I'm sure she's still aggressively promoting her vegan agenda
and making people crave huge chunks of meat.