DEATH OF AN ACTIVIST
a lonely chimpanzee reaches out with its hands/
from the vivisection laboratory cage/ the way a
monkey would reach or a baby/ counsellor i've
liberated animals for over twelve years/ but i
couldn't save all of them/ now i am speaking to
you like the dog with two heads/
a vivisector
took the head of a terrier & attached it to
the body of a german shepherd/ the two heads
lived on the body for a while/ but they
fought each other & the creation was killed/
counsellor the two-headed dog was the thing
that broke me/
would this appeal to your
curiosity?/ a monkey's head being bashed in
against a wall?/ or rats & mice dragging
tumours twice the size of their bodies behind
them?/ or pinned to boards/ their innards on
display or drowned in turpentine?/
or a cat's
brain being scooped out from the top of its
head as it blinked?/ counsellor i think this
finally did it/ & that was just the beginning/
of the beagles that howled & stumbled on the
steel grids/ doggy throats baying from stomachs
wretched with poison/
counsellor i couldn't
save them/ a pig died in weapons testing/ it
was blow-torched/ its delicate skin reduced
to crackling & peeled off/ as vivisectors
held water to its gaping mouth/ to test if
cindered animals could still ingest fluids/
its huge pig's tongue tossed in the air too
burnt to drink/
counsellor they peeled off
its skin as they held the bucket of water in
front of it/ how that pig would have liked to
have been in water or mud/ how it would have
been better off dead/ as i died inside viewing
it/ counsellor, am i psychotic or is this
society?/
& the animals said: don't leave us
here/ so here i am/ but i'm burnt out counsellor/
i cannot save them/ i am as dark as their
mutilation & my body is full of dead kittens/
counsellor, there are things worse than
extinction/ like dying labradors held together
with nylon/
it could have been your own
dog counsellor/ dogs are friendly sociable
animals/ most likely this labrador would have
loved the park/ or playing with your children/
but it's falling to pieces in university
animal houses/ & the vivisector psychopaths
are your next-door neighbours/ & members of
a moral society/
& your vivisector husband
brings you flowers with crimson spotting the
petals/ & black beads of pollen staring up
from its centre/ the flower that speaks to
you counsellor: oh you're uncomfortable/ we
can wait/ for a rat's button-black eyes to burn
holes through your conscience |
