O’Reilly, Dion

United States, (b. 1957)

Why Did I Call My Pig?

  1. I watched my mother call her,
  2. I watched my sister too.
  3. My father chased her.
  4. They tried to round her up,
  5. but my piebald oinker was quick,
  6. her squeals greasing the air.
  7.  
  8. My huge baby, companion
  9. on aimless teenage days
  10. when I balanced on the fence post,
  11. listening to her belly-deep rumble,
  12. scratched with a stick her itchy,
  13. thick-skinned back.
  14.  
  15. The butcher with a rifle,
  16. stood impatient by his Chevy truck
  17. its hook and chain ready
  18. to haul the limp sow up,
  19. to scrape the skin and slice the stomach
  20. in a thin red line, the bowels spilling
  21. glazy as moonstones.
  22.  
  23. Forgive me. To show off my small power,
  24. I called her—the one she loved—
  25. and she came running.

 Dion O’Reilly. poetry etc by dion lissner o’reilly. August 21, 2019 https://dionoreilly.wordpress.com/.

About the Poet:

Dion Lissner O’Reilly, United States, (b. 1957) is a poet and facilitates workshops with small groups of poets from all over the United States and Canada. She also hosted a poetry podcast at The Hive Poetry Collective. O’Reilly has also worked as a waitress, barista, baker, theater manager, graphic designer, and public school teacher.

O’Reilly’s poetry has appeared in New Ohio Review, Rattle, Sugar House Review, The Sun, Rattle, Spillway, New Letters, Atlanta Review, Red Wheelbarrow, Porter Gulch Review, Canary and a variety of other journals and anthologies, including an upcoming Lambda Literary Anthology. Her work has been nominated for Pushcarts, the Intro Journals Project, and was sent to the judges of The Folio Literary Journal Poetry Contest and the Peseroff Prize.

Ghost Dogs, O’Reilly’s debut book, was published in 2020 by Terrapin Books. Her second collection, Sadness of the Apex Predator, was chosen for the 2024 Portage Poetry Series from University of Wisconsin’s Cornerstone Press. She is also the creator and publisher of The PMS Coloring Book and is considering the sequel, The Mental Pause Coloring Book. [DES-06/22]

 • Biographies here are short. Yet all the poets presented have fascinating lives. And they have created a bountiful trough of treasures beyond these works. Please root on about those you enjoy! I hope you find something informative, meaningful or that provokes your further contemplation.

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