Minstrels of old – those medieval musicians and poets who dispersed heroic forms of lyric poetry to all and sundry – were compelled by expectation to embellish and magnify. With their poesy, they would entertain as if to rouse the very sleeping serpent of which they sang.
As you consider the craft of your favorite minstrels, think how hard it is to sing of every-day affairs… More willingly by far, a minstrel might dare a lair of flaming dragons, than a single simple pig.
the Porcine OracleLife, death, love and war, as well as modern dragons, are still valid poetic subject matter. But how much luckier we are today that simple personal subjects, or even a simple pig, are often the choice of our modern minstrels.
Not by coincidence, I mention this because a new anthology of poetry is now available in the Best Loved Pig Poetry section of the Porkopolis library.
O Pig! O Canada!
The Pig Poetry of Canada.
The works of fifty Canadian poets join the ten Canadians already here, and over one-hundred fifty more poems are now available. Alas, there are few dragons…
Also, the US poet Paul E. Nelson has allowed Porkopolis to present you with an unpublished poem. Here Pig, is from Nelson’s current project Pig War & Other Songs of Cascadia.
The Pig War was a confrontation between the U.S. and the British Empire in 1859. They fought over a pig, potatoes and the boundary between the U.S. and British North America, before Canada existed.
Please explore all the poetry and enjoy!
Great anthology, Dan! I’m delighted to be part of it.
Thank you, Gillian. You are the only poet who created a work just for this collection (here), and I greatly appreciate your favor. Keep editing, and enjoying sausages!
As a Canadian, I thank you for this compilation. Ever more reasons for the joys of rooting here. I offer for your consideration, not a poem, but:
Robertson Davies
“A pig can learn more tricks than a dog, but has too much sense to want to do it.”
―Robertson Davies
Source/Notes:
The Table Talk of Samuel Marchbanks (1949)
Read more at http://izquotes.com/author/robertson-davies?q=pig&x=17&y=14
Thanks for the kind words, Donald. I like the quote – clearly Davies (and Marchbanks) understood pigs well.