Picnic in the Abattoir is a collection investigating the negotiation of self amid a myriad of antagonistic forces. These forces include pop cultural products (particularly horror films), violence against women and its depiction in media, viewership and the gaze, etc. The collection is structured in three sections, or "Acts", supplemented with a "Postscript". This structure is intended to mimic, but ultimately subvert, the traditional three-act structure of narrative fiction and film. These poems not only serve as a continuation of my work in the past two years within horror tropes and ontologies of "victimhood," but also broach new topics for me, like the influence of film on ways of seeing and understanding the world and the paradoxical intertwining of fascination and aversion within the viewing experience.