New Zealand, (b. 1944)
Pig
- He was a big pig,
- ugly to some,
- with a rough hide
- and thick bristles.
- When it was time
- to slaughter him
- you shot him
- in the head
- and he slumped
- on the spot, thud.
- Two of you
- couldn’t move him
- so you hung
- a block and tackle
- from a tree,
- stuck a hook
- under his jaw
- and hauled him up.
- You had to use
- your 4-wheel drive
- Toyota to lift him,
- he was such a weight.
- You gutted and hosed
- him out and left him
- hanging there all night.
- I saw him swinging
- slowly in the wind,
- a stain in the dark,
- heavy as grief.
A Good Keen Man
What is it that a donkey sees in a man?
— Paul Durcan
- I am grubbing the bank, clearing
- snarls of grass, buttercup, dock
- and a few thistles
- that feign death, Roots like pasta
- twine in the earth that’s clagged
- on my boots, and further
- roots me here. Bernie the ram
- leans on the fence, seeks food
- and across the drive three pigs
- squeal, piqued insatiables.
- They trit-trot back
- And forth, irascible little NCOs.
- But what is it that a ram
- sees in a man
- that goes unnoticed in him?
- What is it that pigs
- want from a man that he hasn’t
- excreted time and again?
- And what is it that a man
- sees in a pig’s eye, sniffs
- with his snout, that he hasn’t
- seen raised behind his back
- or smelled in latrines
- everywhere? The rain stinks of urine,
- semen, shit and lanolin – the pigs
- pong less, but pong
- redoubtedly. They don’t know
- that I would eat them too
- if need be, that grubs
- will have us all, if fire
- doesn’t, leaving but a snatched,
- queasy whiff upon the air.
About the Poet:
Brian Turner, New Zealand, (b. 1944), is a poet, essayist, biographer and editor. He is also a critic in his own right, a playwright, art critic, environmentalist commentator and television writer.
An outdoorsman, a mountaineer, a national representative hockey player, a keen cricketer, and an avid senior road cyclist, Turner has also made a unique career in New Zealand letters as a celebrated sports journalist and author of a standard trout fishing guide. As one of New Zealand’s most significant writers on landscape, environmentalism and sport, Turner brings a fresh perspective to nature poetry.
Turner was appointed as the fourth Te Mata Estate New Zealand Poet Laureate in 2003. His work is frequently anthologized in collections of poetry and literary sports writing. He has published numerous poetry collections, as well as works of non-fiction. [DES-04/18]
Additional information:
- Brian Turner – New Zealand Book Council
- Brian Turner at The Poetry Archive
- Brian Turner – Academy of New Zealand Literature