Very much in the vein of a previous poem, To The Slaughter House, this was a scene I came on in Dublin. A lorry-load of pigs stampeding away from their deaths made for an appalling, unforgettable moment that brings to mind not just our violence to animals but our violence to humans also.
I Saw This
A truck, over-loaded with pigs,
reversed to the abattoir door;
ramp dropped,
tailgate opened
and they stampeding
backward into no space,
crushing,climbing over the backs,
into the sticks beating them
through the side-boards of the lorry;
forward the stench of death;
they opt for torture
more aware than humans:
the blood-laced atmosphere ahead;
they choose life,
even horrific life.
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