On the plate they have no name
Animal Rights Poetry By Julie Dickinson From All-Creatures.org

Poems of compassion dedicated to the non-human animals who share this planet with us and the people who fight for them.

On the plate they have no name
By Julie Dickinson

Bacon had a mother
Beef was a brother

Chicken watched the sunrise
Mutton had a child

Lamb snoozed in peace
Before becoming an Easter feast

Breathing, seeing, feeling
On the plate, they have no name

Milk was a grieving mother
Veal was petrified and suffered

Horse meat galloped and whinnied
Brown eyed, she butted the gate before the killing

Turkey was affectionate and sweet
But viewed as ugly and prime festive meat

Breathing, seeing, feeling
On the plate, they have no name

Dog is a pet
Eaten by other cultures, we fret

Cat snoozes as a soothing presence
Elsewhere, a food of no other relevance

Dolphin surfs, sentient and complete
Speared, bled-out and national ration of meat

Whale roams the oceans, evolved behemoth, ancient breath
Dragged, snagged, barbed, defiant till death

On the plate
Dwells a state of being, a fate

Of the rights of other lives - ‘human defined’
I seek to unravel, to unwind

Breathing, seeing, feeling
They all have - their own name

Cows near Hadrian's Wall © Julie Dickinson

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