Heidi StephensonComplicity In Speciesism: Idiomatically Speaking
Animal Rights Poetry By Heidi Stephenson 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.

Complicity In Speciesism: Idiomatically Speaking
By Heidi Stephenson

ego eco

To the exploiter

You are as crooked as a dog’s hind leg!
As sly as a fox.
A cat burglar –
Engaged in all sorts of monkey business.
You go ape over things:
Are so quick to have a cow,
A bull in a china shop.
As gruff as a bear.
As stubborn as a mule.
A dark horse.
A black sheep –
Who believes in a dog-eat-dog existence:
In cash cows,
In going the whole hog.
You enjoy hounding others,
Badgering
And putting the cat among the pigeons –
To fight like cats and dogs.
You like playing cat and mouse,
Casting your pearls before ‘swine,’
And then calling the dogs off,
Straight from the horse`s mouth.
Believing yourself to be top dog.
Finding it impossible to get off your high horse.
As conceited as a barber’s cat!
You are a dog in a manger,
Who lives by the creed of the rat race,
Feeling entitled to having the lion’s share of everything –
While others are as poor as church mice.
A fat cat,
As fat as a pig.
You eat like a horse,
Wolfing down your fellow beings,
Getting as drunk as a skunk,
Until you are as sick as a dog.
Having a whale of a time –
Like a bat out of hell!
With your dog and pony show.
The cat that swallowed the canary.
You put the cart before the horse,
And in two shakes of a lamb’s tail,
Set up your kangaroo courts,
For your cock-and-bull stories –
Your bark just as bad as your bite.

To the colluder

And you…like a deer caught in the headlights.
As scared as a rabbit!
A turn tail,
A dumb bunny.
A scaredy-cat, afraidy-cat:
As weak as a kitten.
A paper tiger.
As quiet as a mouse.
A monkey see, monkey do:
A copycat.
An eager beaver –
Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed;
Thinking yourself as clean as a hound’s tooth.
Except that you keep the wolves at bay,
By killing the fatted calf!
By flogging the dead horse!
By backing the wrong horse –
Rather than changing horses in midstream.
You are so afraid of getting someone`s goat,
That you play possum.
Did the cat get your tongue?
Are you so frightened of the dog house,
That you are prepared to lead a dog`s life?
Rather than letting the cat out of the bag?
Even when you smell a rat!
Why do you weasel out of responsibility?
Pretending to have bats in your belfry,
Rather than take the bull by the horns.
Why do you bark up the wrong tree?
Like a lamb to the slaughter,
A gentle lamb, a meek lamb, an innocent lamb –
Your tail between your legs.
You are so afraid of going to the dogs!
Of being thrown to the wolves!
Of having a tiger by the tail.

“You can’t teach an old dog new tricks,” you say.
“A leopard can’t change its spots:
“Not in a pig`s eye.”
“Not until the cows come home.”
“It’ll take donkey’s years.”
“You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink.”
“I can’t lock horns.”
“I can’t rat on someone.”
“I’ve got to keep the wolf from the door.”
“You can’t lock the barn door after the horse is gone.”
“I can’t look a gift horse in the mouth.”
“I’ve got to be ahead of the pack.”
“I can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear.”
“I can’t make a monkey out of someone.”
“I don’t want a monkey on my back.”
“It doesn’t make horse sense.”
“I don’t want to be put out to pasture!”
“A white elephant?”
“You’re making a mountain out of a molehill!”
“Every dog has his day.”
“Better to be a live dog than a dead lion.”
“The best-laid plans of mice and men.”
“I can’t cry wolf,”
“On the elephant in the room!”
“Be the straw that broke the camel`s back.”
“Holy cow!”
“Hit the bulls-eye?”
“That’s a horse of a different colour.”


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