We crack eggs on the counter
And they spill like Heads onto
Pavement—emptying Dreams & Guts.²
We lie the tender, down-ruffled bird on a platter and
Ponder how to Eat out its Heart, without causing it distress.³
With bright Knives he releaseth my soul, he
Maketh me to hang on Hooks in high places—
He converteth me to Cutlets.⁴
This Raw Flesh reeks of
The butcher’s cleaver!⁵
We’re so kind-hearted that we can’t look at
Blood, but enjoy eating the calf served up with Sauce—⁶
We have just dined, and however scrupulously the
Slaughterhouse is Concealed in the graceful
Distance of miles—there is Complicity.⁷
The Flesh of slain beasts in our bodies
Will become our own Tomb—for
They who kill—Kill themselves!⁸
Desire not the Flesh of slaughtered Animals—
Take no Milk mothers have made for their Young—
Grieve not unsuspecting Birds by eating their Eggs—
Spare even the Honey which Bees gather industriously,
For they do not Gather it that it might belong to others.⁹
Empathy must be limited to Herbivores!¹⁰
¹ Arundhati Roy, The Ministry of Utmost Happiness
² Alenka Doyle, First and Last Crush
³ Yukio Mishima tr. Nathan, The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea
⁴ Roger Waters, Sheep
⁵ Sylvia Plath, Street Song
⁶ Leo Tolstoy tr. Louise and Aylmer Maude, War and Peace
⁷ Ralph Waldo Emerson, The Conduct of Life
⁸ Essene Gospel of Peace
⁹ Al Ma’arra tr. original, Do Not Unjustly Eat
¹⁰ Philip K. Dick, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?