Daldorph, Brian

England/United States, (b. 1958)

Pig

  1. That’s what the General looks like.
  2. “You think I look like a pig?” he says in good English.
  3. “No, no, of course not,” I say.
  4. “Then that makes you, my friend, an exception. People call me The Pig.
  5. I know it. They call me that, but not to my face!”
  6. He offers me a drink. I ask for tea.
  7. “On a hot afternoon like this. You English!”
  8. I ask him about the prisoners.
  9. “The terrorists? They are being treated much better
  10. than they treat their victims,” he says.
  11. “They are savages. Savages!“
  12. I ask if I can see them, talk to one of them, perhaps, but the General says,
  13. “That is not possible, my friend. They are dangerous men. I cannot
  14. guarantee your safety.”
  15. I tell him I’m willing to risk it and he stares at me with pig’s eyes:
  16. “But I am not willing.”
  17. I thank him anyway and he stands, extends his hand.
  18. I shake it and he smiles.
  19. “Have you ever shaken hands with a pig before?”
  20. I know when to say nothing.

© Brian Daldorph. Poets Resist, May 2019. Toledo, OH: Glass Poetry Press. A current events poetry series edited by Jemshed Khan.

About the Poet:

Brian Daldorph, England/United States, (b. 1958) is a poet and also teaches creative writing, literature, and writing classes as an assistant professor in the English department at the University of Kansas in Lawrence. He has also taught in Japan, Senegal, and England.

Daldorph is the founder-editor of Coal City Review, a literary press. Since 2001, he’s led a creative writing class for inmates at the Douglas County Jail. His own poems, stories, articles, and reviews have been widely published. [DES-11/19]

Additional information:

  • The Coal City Review is an annual literary journal of prose, poetry, reviews and illustrations published by the University of Kansas English MFA Program and edited by Brian Daldorph since 1989.