Potter, Carol

The Good Pig

1. Might have been the books we read as children,
2. our confusion about human protocol. Who calls whom.
3.  
4. What to do now, etc. All those animals dressed
5. in human clothes. The kid with the animal snout and
6.  
7. beaver teeth, fur all over his body but dressed
8. in blue overalls. Droopy donkey and humming
9.  
10. fat bear. Everybody chatting one to the other.
11. Bad bunny. Jealous bear sister. Maybe
12.  
13. it was the chamomile in B. Potter’s books.
14. Something about McGregor. We picked up
15.  
16. some odd ideas. About getting caught
17. under the flower pot. Losing your shoes.
18.  
19. Leaving your coat behind on the fence.
20. One reasonable lesson after the other and everything
21.  
22. ending well. Don’t lie down in that bed.
23. Don’t eat that porridge. Don’t knock on that door.
24.  
25. In the story, supper gets delivered to the table.
26. You were bad and you were almost eaten
27.  
28. but there you are at last in the little burrow
29. with the fires burning. A bit of fur missing.
30.  
31. Some shame. Mother, however,
32. seems to have forgiven you.
33.  
34. Or let’s say, your house blown down,
35. but the wolf’s in the pot. Everybody huddling
36.  
37. in the smartest pig’s house. The good pig.
38. And out the window Thomas the Train passing by.
39.  
40. Smile on his face. Always pleasant.
41. Some furry hands waving from the windows.