This is the non-graphic version of Gary Yourofsky’s incredibly powerful slam poem. For those who want to share the poem but not the graphic imagery, I created this non-visual version. This poem was written by Gary Yourofsky in 1996
This is a non-graphic version of Gary Yourofsky’s poem. You can find find the original here. Gary is no stranger to powerful words. But in today’s video post you will hear him in a way you never have before in all of his talks and interviews.
Gary wrote this spoken word piece in 1996 about the atrocities we inflict upon animals every single day–about the horrors they experience. Now, 19 year later, I have the distinct pleasure of bringing his words to life in a video. I am humbled and honored. I hope you listen and watch and give these animals their voice. tweet this poem
Here is Gary’s poem in full, but I strongly encourage you to listen to his delivery.
The videos I’ve seen
Heinous and malicious
Images of carnage
Evil and wicked
Abattoirs of horror
Slashed throats and severed bodies
Dismembered heads and hooves
Mass killings so ungodly
The fur electrocutions
Anal and genital
Gassings and neck-breakings
The scenes are unfathomable
Baby seals being clubbed
For their skins we shall beat them
Foxes in steel traps
A leg chewed off for freedom
Is it elegant and glamorous
A death sentence for their beauty
Or repugnant and loathsome
That’s injustice and iniquity
A cow ovariectomy
Without anesthetic
A pig being scorched
Burn research is pathetic
Toxicity tests in a rabbit’s eyes
A circus elephant is beaten
In chains he cries
A mouse convulsing from a lethal injection
A live cat embalmed and used for dissection
Our compassion, unfocused
In a skewed direction
Medical research need not vivisection
A baboon dazed in a head injury lab
Researchers remorseless
Three of them laugh
It’s the humans, the humans
Most horrifying of all
Blinded by their actions
Deafened to the calls
The reprehensible acts
Which I will never forget
The sinful atrocities on God’s pets
It’s not inconvenient
To care is magnanimous
To save a life is honorable
To issue death is blasphemous
I cannot and will not stand by without choice
I’ll decipher their cries and be their voice
— Gary Yourofsky
In creating the video for this piece, I poured through hours of brutal footage. This project has shaken me to my core, as so many do. I certainly hope it has reached you as well. Please share this post around to spread the truth and give a voice to the so often ignored animal victims.
I’d love to hear what you thought of Gary’s work in the comments!
— Emily Moran Barwick
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