Literary Vegan

It's peaceful indoors And the kitchen is warm Forgotten - the noise And the fear and the harm That put the animal on the feasting table  Can you celebrate peace When your food wasn't able  To know the same? Far away is the pain Of the face Now removed Now replaced With a plate. Could our placemats be kindness To the creatures that trust us Can our hands spare the bloodshed  We don't see before us. Copyright LJ Ireton  

Inquisitive eyes Playful feet Torn apart Labelled 'Meat' Life not enough  Without death Doing as was done  Dimming consciousness Of living  Eating life with ease Inquisitive eyes  Playful feet Copyright LJ Ireton 

Sanctuary Small, smiling sleepers Worn out from chasing apples Sleep in safety, resting on their mother. My heart is in that straw That the piglets snuggle into A blanket of peace Unlike the others. I’m so happy for a moment But it shouldn’t be momentary Peace should not be isolated, Should not be secondary To suffering as standard, Substandard living – Please give the others Sanctuary. Copyright LJ Ireton 2018

No living being Should be objectified by A living being

I'm lost on land   And breathe in the tide To fill rock pools with light For like calls to like And my stars are the sparks of the Sun,  As they strike  The surface of my water sky - Constellations I can fly to, Surge and shimmer down through Under water the outside combines Without it I thirst -  An island of dust  Isolated by the dry divides. Copyright LJ Ireton 2018

Speaking Out What is extreme  About asking for peace On behalf of those living  That know only pain? When do I shout? I'm crouched low on the ground  Like a child who's found  Something dying. Why am I harsh For showing my heart  Can't bear the sound  Of their silence.  Copyright LJ 2018  

Dairy What makes humans do these things   to cows to get their milk? Some say dairy’s ok because at least There’s no blood spilt - But impregnation by a hand is not the way of the earth To feed humans their babies’ milk Is not why cows give birth Naturally no newborn should be   taken from its mother, Tube forced down its throat and its milk   given to another Us! Who do not need it Cause a mother cow to cry I don’t know how society Has had this normalized. LJ Ireton 2018

Attention Foot after foot and ten thousand arms Unison shouts, sounding drums and alarms We need to do this, to stand up for truth But people are looking at us and not You. Copyright LJ Ireton 2018

Solace I sought solace with swans After too much human noise Their shapes on sunlit water Soothed an ache inside my mind. A person, then another  Held out hands to feed a swan But held no food, just photo smiles -  The bird's expectations undone. And just like that, the camera flash  Burnt my bubbling peace Humans tricked the birds So now, again, they troubled me. Copyright LJ Ireton 2018

An old man and his dog Sauntered slowly up to me  He pointed at the bird picture I'd wanted him to see Then pointed back down at his dog, Said "He's just like him, like me" And I thought as he walked away Yes, that's it completely. Copyright LJ 2018

Seen For you who suffer behind walls We will be your windows On bricks we'll hold up squares of you Reflections from the shadows  Outside, outside demands you, yet Outside you'll never see We will face outside for you Your faces will be seen. Copyright LJ Ireton 2018 Dedicated to The Humane League UK 

Elsewhere I sit in  Silence But I'm always aware Of the sound of suffering Elsewhere I feel useless I pray for us to Show kindness  To the Smallest In our care. Copyright LJ Ireton 2018

They wait by the doors You can turn their life around But they will change yours Copyright LJ Ireton 2018 

Ghost What have humans done? That even animals c an't be  Animals When they're your own creation Or rather  Alteration Your food has a face And it's as white as a ghost  You took its colours away For your gain. Copyright LJ Ireton 2018.

Beings They're frightened. Little hearts beat in alarm Little lives form a death drum - One after one after one They drop off the spectrum Of beings who feel Because humans don't feel It's a problem. So the animals fear, Understand, While humans become numb. Copyright LJ Ireton 2018

OCD (4) Every thought Followed by Every single footstep Followed by Every thought  Is a  Slow Concentrated Balance Along a tightrope Belonging To a spiderweb of destruction That could Break With Any single footstep. Copyright LJ Ireton 2018

Species In your eyes I see all eyes Held in different shapes Who feel the same As you do Destined for other fates For what reason? There is no reason To distinguish heart from heart To share a home With one Should pardon The whole And not the part. Copyright LJ Ireton 2018

Water from a tap Is no less a waterfall It can still inspire Copyright LJ Ireton 2018

Reading   I am stuck inside I look out the window and feel worse. Then I look to my side And see my reading book That will transport me beyond this city, Still covered in blankets And I am grateful. Copyright LJ Ireton 2018

I am only sane In a room of animals ~ Humans confuse me. Copyright LJ Ireton 2018

Butterfly I peek out of a tiny hole  In my cocoon Wondering how they do it - Like they've never known This blanket of doubt  Or ugly wings. They fly, They inspire Why does it feel like I have to work Harder? I've glimpsed my colours I know they're there. For this time in the dark, I'm going to make them shine So bright they seem effortless. Perhaps that's what the others Are doing. Copyright LJ Ireton 2018