Literary Vegan

I knew I was held back by something. I didn't know what. I met myself climbing up a hill Accepted me Then forgot  Your approval And restrictions  The flowers are my diction And I'll talk to the petals  Or parade them Whether you like it Or not.  C. LJ 2019

They crouch either side of the jungle - A thick mud-brown rug in the hall And I pull a pink satin ribbon Soon to be pinned by their claws They pounce - A leopard and lion The pretty pink string sees their teeth Then we all sit in great satisfaction Of finding the snake Underneath. C. LJ 2019

It's raining outside But I have tea, Two candles and A cat with me A blanket and  A reading book In between chapters  My cat looks Sleepily at me And we both smile Because this is our  Favourite time. C. LJ 2019

Two cats on a bed Content An empty tea cup Sighing  I try to slow time Being present But the cats are present Without trying. C. LJ 2019

Dogs are given outfits, blankets A bed next to the fire. Cats have diamond collars, velvet cushions, are admired. Yet cows are lined up terrified, Stunned and hung upside down And pigs are crammed into crates Scared by the gas and screaming sounds Each cow has the heart of a dog And a pig can make its own bed But for some reason the love for cats and dogs Does not extend to them. C. LJ 2019

The world is concrete and metal I need the smell of green leaves  Or the touch of fur of a kindred spirit To remind me of early earth When God walked with man, Man with animal, And among all - Streams laced with sun. I hold on to glimpses of forest To mist above water When walls and roads Block the sky And confuse where I came from. C. LJ 2019

It's exhausting Reading script after script after script And then casting Myself as the villain each time But each time forgetting  It's not even real as I'm tricked by My own brain With Obsessive Compulsive Disorder  Directing again. C. LJ 2019

Petals make the mane Of the rose that sways softly Above steady claws  C. LJ 2019

I'm walking through the wreckage Of my former self Finding relics Amongst the rubble Of me before I fell Statues that tell stories  Of who I was Underneath What once was buried treasure,  Is now brought back to me. C. LJ 2019

I used to sparkle  There's magic in our eyes I was told to sit down Pressed into silent uniform After a while I stopped fighting Crumpled, I crawled out And like a cat Licked my wounds And the dirt off Bit by bit And there it was. C. LJ 2019

I walked with butterflies  Over damp grass Grateful of change and  Restoration  And a moment to Pause In the breeze Watching wings and petals Be.  C. LJ 2019

The petals of the Delicate Daisy are still Made with precision   C. LJ  2019

The same mind that makes A maze to hold Minotaurs Creates monsters too  C. LJ Ireton 2019

Unmissable bloom The sun inside a flower The sky in a room C. LJ Ireton 2019

Was not the faith of Mary one of the greatest  In a world of men?  C. LJ Ireton  

My mind is a maze of magic sparks, Circuits conjuring  Candyfloss clouds or Calamity storms In a heartbeat -  The fastest painter I know Filling in both cracks and rainbows To make pictures  Then presenting them to me As Masterpieces But both wear fanciful frames  That I cannot always see. C. LJ Ireton 2019

The sun drew me out Crawling, curious  Onto Open Ground Where I knelt by buttercups To the sounds of sparrows  I breathed in light Safe in my circle of trees Amazed to just be outside.  C. LJ Ireton 2019

To know contentment, Watch a sleeping cat. C. LJ Ireton 2019

Though she feels surrounded, Lost in light-scattered haze She steels her heart against the storm, Her mind against the rain  Until the clouds pour flower petals And courage colours her face, Hailed luminous with the rising moon, Reminded she is brave. C. LJ Ireton 2019

I'm not alone. My cat is next to me. And her eyes hold Lion prides, Dragon treasure and Tiger stripes -  The whole animal kingdom Is curled at my feet Choosing me for company.  C. LJ Ireton 2019

Into the tapestry of tradition You embroidered your words in ink Sewing in stoicism  Under standards of sapphire and silk. Skilled lady - what poise, what faith you held  Under the gaze of religious men - Facing dangerous duty with grace, Marking books with a woman's name. In a chequered court, with a heavy crown,  Your patience and pages were displayed Among your collection of royal jewels Admired by queens not yet made. Copyright LJ Ireton 2019

Sailing across an uncertain sea, Her white veil trails  The wind of things to come, While her thick golden train flows behind Like the waves in the wake Of warm colours now gone. So she fills her cold castles With France and her beauty  In defiance of shadows Not her own And dances her way over stone floors  In riches, decorating herself  Her own throne. C. LJ Ireton 2019

The Star Knew We'd been looking  In the wrong places -  We did not consider  That light Would settle in Sawdust and shadows Where it was needed Most -  So she held out a hand In suggestion. C. LJ Ireton 2019

Seas shaped by syllables  Talking trees to life Earth made from whispers Forming wheat fields overnight Underneath spoken stars We search for echoes on the wind So we can speak your language  Into worlds yet to begin. C. LJ Ireton 2019

Cats are royalty And yet they make you feel like You are the royal  C. LJ Ireton 2019

Calm, calm The noise, the lies That fly around your brain In swarms A storm Halt the formation  Call them down Call them down  See, see The swirls of black That circle up and up To harm,  Attack Catch them reshaping  Send them back Send them back. C. LJ Ireton 2019.

Broken brain That I carry around with me Was meant to be in charge But it tortured me Until I stopped moving In despondency. Now I wait For supplies  But there's no bandage for the mind So I sit Holding the Fragile pieces. C. LJ Ireton 2019

I try to be myself for a moment Then I remember my madness and cry Because I feel like time has been stolen Leaving someone I don't recognise. C. LJ Ireton 2019

Oh that my thoughts Could run like water Always flowing to the sea Instead they go no further, Forge a dam And hold in me A stream is like a wish To whispers stuck in dirt Weaving them in movement Making rivers of new thought.  C. LJ Ireton 2019

Dark cloud I know you now You've been following me for a while Some days you thunder Confusing me But when the lightning stops  I see you.  C. LJ Ireton 2019

My mind, my time Was stolen from me The clock stopped with my sanity The pain is now An absent thing A ghost ship that is hovering While I look on Now from the pier Not knowing how it brought me here. C. LJ Ireton 2019.

Thoughts thrashing through tunnels Endless atoms amongst darkness Moving forward without my feet Without my sight -  I forgot I was made of light too. C. LJ Ireton 2019

The air feels grey and thick I wade, weighed down By warped versions of reality  That push me to my knees And I sink. I can't think my way out. C. LJ Ireton 2019.

My cats Circle me As planets orbit Round the Sun So my cats Remind me Who I am When I've forgotten. C. LJ Ireton 2019

I could stand here for hours With the wind brushing my face Holding me upright, lifting my heart Over purple trees, just like my gaze Part of the outside I can stand Where my mind can see a space It's been singing for in darkness Searching for a peaceful place. C. LJ Ireton   2019

And the sun shone Bringing the very earth to life The creatures crawled out from the ground and birds took to the skies The stream spoke to the pebbles Saying it is alive Nature says we live Man says we survive. C. LJ Ireton 2019

Have you seen a cow fight its way back out  Of the slaughter line that won't let her leave?  Or that same gentle beauty hung heavy by the leg  On a chain, like a felled brute beast? Have you seen pigs held down to suffocate, screaming, Squealing in choking chambers? Or how pigs can play, train and answer like dogs, Yet they still don't receive the same treatment? Have you seen the alarm in the eyes of a bird  Facing stun by electrified water?  Or the injustice when innocent chicks are poured down  Into death by an industrial grinder? These animals fear every step of the way and  You refuse, you refuse to acknowledge  That we are the cause - 'free range' label or not -  Unless we have mercy and stop this. Do not buy packages produced by pain or  Turn your back on these creatures who trust. We have a choice and compassion's its name,  Let peace in their kingdom start with us. Copyright LJ Ir...

My voice is worn From screaming SHOUTING About what happens to you -  But my words roll off their shoulders Like raindrops And my echo sits in the puddles They step in Forgetting  What I said -  Like your your pleading eyes Mean nothing to them,  Or don't exist Behind humane labels And all the paper notes That pay to wash your blood away. Im haunted by your frightened face Longing to be saved, Not deserving pain in return And I cry with shame - Because what more can I say  If they don't want to learn. Copyright LJ Ireton 2019

I hold myself Still  As my own body  Pauses My mind opens Emotion trickles  Out  I let this  Moment Halt Momentum As the world rarely does. Copyright LJ Ireton 2018