CW: animal death
Consider the artless sheep
who cannot articulate its worth —
abased, affronted, abused, afflicted
five abreast —
we should be ashamed of the atrocity
of abbatoirs, and not just for their abhorrent
arôme de mort
like the worst septic tank gone agley
Our perception’s awry
when it comes to the more-than-human,
seeing it as less
I used to hold my breath
avoid aspiring
through West Gosford’s killing fields
with their audible fear —
would rather asphyxiate
or be anosmic
than face that asafoetida
They’ve moved the abattoir to Woy Woy
near the landfill —
out of sight
out of smell
but not atoned
The romance of spring lambs!
prancing in daffodils!
fat by autumn’s fall, assets
ready for abbatage —
reduced to anatomy
colonised by cuts
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That’s really brutal, C!
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I know…
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I used to live on a sheep farm, and I ate way too much lamb in my life. Our 4000 sheep were merinos for wool mainly, but we ate some too…dad would often have one hanging in the meat shed. When we moved to a small city, we still lived near an abbatoir and had to drive past it sometimes…the worst smell ever
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Also, my star sign is Aries, the ram, so I identify a little bit with their cause…my eldest is Capricorn the goat, and we butt heads sometimes! Too similar maybe
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