Sapphire Sea

Compassionate Farming?

Living in a very rural area close to several large farms and many public footpaths through them I frequently witness some worrying things going on when out walking. At one time I supported Compassion in World Farming (https://www.ciwf.org.uk, and later on just became more into general animal issues by supporting the RSPCA. Now I mostly have to be concerned more with prioritising speciesist issues personal to me, ie learning disabilities. One thing that is often said of poor treatment of humans is that they are being treated like an animal, and that is why it is so important to try to help the animals too, as by doing so we improve the attitudes and treatment of humans by making any kind of cruelty completely unacceptable in any circumstances. It also makes us realise what cruelty is. Recently there has been a dreadful court case in New Zealand about a farmer’s cruelty to his cows. This poem by Heidi Stephenson of the All Creatures Christian vegetarian group helps us to digest and remember the issues, and not to let it just slip away into the ether with hundreds of other similar stories.

THE COW BEATER by Heidi Stephenson

Three female cows,

three tired, female cows,

three bereaved, female cows

Pregnancy – birthing . . .loss

dare to RESIST

their slavemaster,

the constant kidnapper,

the killer

of their calves;

the profiteering

milk snatcher,

the “contract milker”,

their cruel oppressor.

And so he BEATS them,

BEATS them

with a steel pipe

with hard steel

. . .until they reel.

He beats these benign

bovine girls

repeatedly,

in order to “educate”

“those three grumpy bitches”

(continued here https://www.all-creatures.org/poetry/ar-cow-beater.html)

My Life

Sometimes poetry and books fill my life and I want to share this with you. For someone who had a rocky start at school with literature and still finds the idolisation of Old Will difficult I must say that since learning to read before school my love of books is completely embedded.

Why Poetry?

I write to put down permanently things that are too difficult to express any other way.
Reading poetry is easier than a classic book such as Little Dorritt and we all need a page turner at night.
As life goes along my relationship with literature changes and I need to set this down.

What poems do you choose, and do you prefer to read poetry rather than a long book at night?

Contact Page

MY POEMS (1)

White shoes click clacking. 
Rosie and I snaking our way through the indigo gloom,
Two verdant escorts in tow.
We separate.

I was one of those kids who had to recite and learn poems as a party piece for the grownups. It became a self-fulling prophecy that my life has been filled with the tapestry of poems. Now I write my own, and I would like to share this one with you below.

Tardis

THE TARDIS

White shoes click clacking. 
Rosie and I snaking our way through the indigo gloom,
Two verdant escorts in tow.
We separate.
The crimson paint splatters over her head,
She sinks to the back to hide behind the monolith.

And he came running after her chastity,
As she spins in her Tardis prison.
Black night, white sheets.
The pin digs into the folds.
Stop Go Stop Go,
As she vanishes into the next dimension,
Pinned to the blue walls.
A mixed blessing.
During during, wires crossed.
White wedding.  
White out.
Sheets left.

Tuesday at two,
He's not revealing his crystal sword
To the BTeam down at the grapes of wrath,
Where Liberty Bodice meets Pinfold.
Bye Red Dwarf.  I'm screaming.

In the next dimension where crossed rackets shine,
Pinfold Potterite sings hallelujah.
And my sweet child drops from my arms,
His head bobbing down the gritty church steps,
Boring , boring through my skull,
Divided once more.

Now the child man clutches his flat headed cap,
And slopes along the pavement with his entourage
Carefully crossing roads,
Far from the Belisha beacons,
A day trip to Morrison's.
Up to the top and down to the bottom.
Don't cough.

Asymptotic testing kits have arrived.
"We'll pin your sides if you move!"
Please EAT and don't mind the robots,
As they watch over your zoochotic pacing.
Life's a gamble that is often tough.
A short life is worthwhile if full of love.


Patricia Goldberg ©2020