Literary Vegan

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

New Year's Eve I won't wait for the Midnight turn My Christmas candle still burns And the cats tuck their heads in to curl Into shapes of sleep framed by fur. This is the moment I take Into next year of noise and mistakes These halycon minutes, now made By creatures, contented and safe. I am one of them too So I pray with silent gratitude The night crowds will shout loudly soon But my candle lights up the whole room.   Copyright LJ Ireton 2017.

Hatchlings They do no wrong. They hatch, they cheep And start to look around At scattered egg shells And matching eyes, set In hatchling soft, soft, down That we replicate as fluffy toys And put their image on sale As they are killed and thrown as trash Because they were born male.  Copyright LJ Ireton 2018