Leax, John

United States, (b. 1943)

Meet the Amazing Half Man Half Pig

  1. Each day he walks the thirty yards
  2. back and forth between his house and barn.
  3. You can see him, if you stop along
  4. the road and lean casually against
  5. his fence. His overalls and ballcap
  6. show him up a farmer like every
  7. other farmer in the valley.
  8. But don’t go close. He is a shy
  9. one, easily spooked. He will not
  10. be known. Watch him. You will see,
  11. as he walks, the sudden lifting
  12. of his very human hand to wipe
  13. the round, flattened snout through which he
  14. breathes the same barnyard air that
  15. reaches you at the fence. You will see
  16. the same hand scratching at the sharp
  17. bristled ears grown high on his hoggy
  18. head. You will never see him pick
  19. and bite into a crisp, sweet apple.
  20.  
  21. He will not be known because he
  22. does not know himself, as he crosses
  23. the worn path of his daily labor,
  24. which pole is home. He wonders,
  25. Is he the farmer or the farmed?
  26. It matters more than you, staring
  27. from the fence, can guess. You straddle
  28. nothing deeper than convictions.
  29.  
  30. It troubles him, pouring milk
  31. and slops into the trough, thinking
  32. of ham and bacon, to see himself
  33. looking up into his eyes. Will he
  34. find his end as ignominious
  35. as the one his snorting porcine
  36. herd will find? Or will he be
  37. laid out in glory, a necktie
  38. bound about his weathered neck
  39. and makeup plastered on his face,
  40. the food chain broken, the body
  41. torn only in the empty grave?
  42.  
  43. He knows himself as both and neither:
  44. half man, half pig, half god and beast.
  45. He longs, like you, to know himself:
  46. a pig risen into manhood
  47. or a man descending into pork,
  48. like some wild god risking
  49. everything to be his own creation.

 John Leax. Tabloid News. La Porte, Ind.: WordFarm (2005).

Given Our Disposition
Matthew 8: 28-34

  1. Good Greeks, we aspire to order. Acts
  2. Like his joke plummeting healthy pigs down
  3. A cliff risk chaos. Our demoniacs
  4. Disturb the tombs; they never rouse the town.
  5. At most they spook the poor inhabiting
  6. The storm scoured caves in the rough terrain
  7. Above the springs where bathers ease small pains
  8. In calming, bubbling heat. Prohibiting
  9. Another violation of our rule
  10. Seemed wise. Prophets needn’t come in power,
  11. Wielding it to make a city cower.
  12. Gadera has room for chain-breaking ghouls,
  13. for noisy demons wise enough to fear his name.
  14. Jerusalem killed him. Our city bears no blame.

 John Leax. Remembering Jesus: Sonnets and Songs. Eugene, OR: Cascade Books (2014).

About the Poet:

John R. Leax, United States, (b. 1943), is a poet, essayist, and fiction writer. He was professor of English and poet-in-residence at Houghton College in Houghton, New York from 1968 until his retirement in 2009. His poems, articles, and fiction have been widely published in periodicals and anthologies.

His books include eight volumes of poetry: Remembering Jesus (2014), Recluse Freedom (2012), Reaching into Silence (1974), The Task of Adam (1985), Country Labors (1991), Tabloid News (2005), and Remembering Jesus: Sonnets and Songs (2014).

He has novel Nightwatch (1989) and four works of non-fiction including: In Season and Out (1985), Standing Ground (1991), Out Walking (2000) and Grace Is Where I Live (1993). [DES-05/22]

 • 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.

From the Porkopolis Archive:

  • Half man half pig – “Meet the Amazing Half Man Half Pig” from John Leax Tabloid Poems (2005).

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