The Little Book of Vegan Poems

by Benjamin Zephaniah

Benjamin Zephaniah dedicated this collection of 22 new poems to "the caring, dedicated young vegans of the world...who will not stand for any exploitation whatever the species." Filled with the unique "radical rapper" poems that Zephaniah is famous for, this book also includes an extensive contact list of international vegan and animal rights organizations. Benjamin Zephaniah , born in Birmingham, England, in 1958, is a remarkably popular performer, poet, and political protestor in the UK as well as a very vocal advocate for veganism. He is the author of Propa Propaganda (Dufour Editions, 1996), co-editor of Out of the Writings from Death Row (Paul & Co., 1994) and is the author of two previous poetry collections published by AK Press. Also available by Benjamin
School's Poems Not for School
TP $6.95, 1-873176-49-X o CUSA

Genres: Poetry, Vegan

36 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2002

About the author

A British-Jamaican writer, dub poet and Rastafari. He was included in The Times list of Britain's top 50 post-war writers in 2008.

Reviews

[Wendle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some of the poems I really liked. Some for their message, some for their style, some for the fact they made me laugh. Others I was less enamoured with. Some fell flat, some used language in a way that just didn’t work for me, some were just okay.

Benjamin Zephaniah is known more for his dub poetry, and although I’ve not seen him perform, I think these poems would work much better read live. With emphasis, inflexion, personality and energy. I just think they would hit their mark more accurately and punch much higher.

A longer review can be read at my book blog: Marvel At Words.

[Lisa Vegan · Rating 3 out of 5]

As I was reading, these poems at first seemed uninspired and I thought I wouldn’t be able to rate them with more than 2 stars, but I ended up being charmed by most of them, and I did heartily agree with the pro-animal, pro-humane messages. Might be supportive for vegan children.

[Jayne Hood · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic collection of wonderful poems by such a legend

[Suzanne · Rating 2 out of 5]

Contains some pretty nice poems (still nowhere near as good as Talking Turkeys), but a lot are just too odd for me. At least my ill pet chicken enjoyed most of them when I read them to her :)

[Tyna the Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely brilliant! Funny, heart wrenching and I need to get myself a copy to keep forever. Now I’m in desperate need of more vegan poetry.

[Iz · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was super excited for this and it was a nice read but it wasn't very deep

[Tiina · Rating 3 out of 5]

A short collection of poems written in the personal style of the author. I only wish this had been longer. The book (leaflet) only has 50 pages, and that includes further reading and about the author.

I recommend Talking Turkeys instead. It's more of a collection and comes with (dated but, oh, so nostalgic) artwork.

[Mimikril · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is a waste of paper

[Nicole Miles · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm really disappointed since I had high hopes for this one. I don't require all my poetry to rhyme perfectly (even though that's often fun) or even to rhyme at all(!), but most of these just felt like they were trying to rhyme and then gave up half way and just ended up feeling sloppy. The poems were really simplistic, but not in a minimalist or sparse-but-poignant/interesting/funny kind of way. Since "Me Girlfriend" sounded so suggestive, I decided it probably wasn't a collection aimed at kids, but then the poems were just so...dinky! And, honestly, the assumption that maybe they're for kids seems insulting to better poetry collections for kids. Only two (out of 22) poems felt solid to me which is a real shame. I liked the message and I really wish this collection were more interesting or funny or clever or punchy...but it just wasn't.
I like what it was trying to do, though. And I liked the "useful organisations" and "vegan resources" listed at the back of the book though. I'll give it an extra star for that..

[Mo · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautiful book on poems against cruelty to animals and meat eating. It is funny and has wit and charm.

[Lesley Kitchen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love the poem "We People Too"!

[Rebecca Jane · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was ok. It's not quite my style of poetry but there were a few I liked, and it only took 10 minutes to read.