The poem 'The New Age Abattoir' is in Coral Hull's
third collection titled 'William's Mongrels' published by Penguin Books Australia in a book
called 'The Wild Life.'
Also see Poetica review of Coral Hull
Poetica review of Coral Hull's poetry
The New Age Abattoir by Coral Hull
THE NEW AGE ABATTOIR
By Coral Hull (Published by Penguin)
one of the heifers in the transportation truck
received a tarot card reading & the death card
came up/
not a negative card by any means but
one signifying great changes in her life/
her boy calf taurus capricorn rising is bellowing
in a veal factory/
his four gangling legs broken
chiropractically snapped at the waist/
put in an
organic jarrah packing crate/ (sustainable logging
only)/
a rose quartz crystal attached to each
broken joint for healing of the heart chakra/
meanwhile the heifer is scorched on the rump
with her sunsign & numerological chart/
cows are led from the truck & into the slaughter
according to the brightness of their individual
auras/
electric lights are shaded lavender/
& a flower essence - aspen: for fear & foreboding
of the future/ is given to each frothing muzzle
with a dropper/
& the sacred chainsaw is
called excalibur/
& each worker is wearing the
pentacle (right side up of course) & they
never cut anti clockwise/
there is no need
for a guru/ there is individual freedom/ the
manager boycotts battery eggs for ethical
reasons/
& before the smashing of her forehead/
we look into her long lashed eyes as deeply as
we can: for the universal teaching of love &
compassion/
but there is not much time/ now
for some crimson colour therapy for the workers/
as we all strike her dead into an out of body
experience/
or perhaps she is abducted by
guardian angels in u.f.o.s/ how can we know?/
all the while the song of the humpback whale is
gently freeing its oceans over the new age
abattoir p.a. system/
workers have been found to
be less stressed whilst this is playing & have
even brought in potplants for the tea room/
the cow’s heavy body (still kicking) is dragged
upwards on the hook/ her neck split open she cannot
hold in air & blood/
& a shout from the workers:
release yourself to the universal lifeforce!/
for the wet rebirth her skin is steamed off/ we
inject in some royal jelly & some herbalife/
tonight we celebrate her death & chew her fat
& digest her corpse/ knowing we are at one with
her & that she is at peace/
& for the ones left
behind: a nice massage in essential oils to ease
their distress
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