Considering the pig, a single-minded bestiary.
An alphabetical list of poets who have considered the pig.
Timothy Murphy, United States, (1951-2018), poetry includes: Hoggerel, Handsome Dan, The Peg-leg Pig and Shep’s Last Stand. Murphy was a prolific lyric poet and businessman. A Yale BA graduate, he returned to his home in Minnesota where he worked in insurance and estate planning, became a venture capitalist and partner in a farm that produces 850,000 hogs a year. He published four books of poetry and a memoir.
Scotland, (1864-1941) Winter NOO that cauldrife Winter’s here There’s a pig in ilka bed, Kinlin’s scarce an’ coals is dear; Noo that cauldrife Winter’s here Doddy mittons we maun wear, Butter skites an’ winna spread; Noo that cauldrife Winter’s here There’s a pig in ilka bed. Editor’s Note: Key to “Doric” dialect: [cauldrife = … Read more
Leslie Allan “Les” Murray, Australia, (b. 1938), poetry includes: Pigs, The Invention of Pigs, Blood and The Pigs. Murray is a poet, anthologist and critic. He is Australia’s leading poet and one of the greatest contemporary poets writing in English.
Matthew Murrey, United States, (contemporary), poetry includes: PIG BRAIN. Murrey is a poet, counselor and public school librarian. His first book manuscript, Bulletproof, was published by Jacar Press in February 2019.
Carol Muske-Dukes, United States, (b. 1945), poetry includes: SPAM RISK. Muske-Dukes is a poet, novelist, essayist, critic, professor, and the former poet laureate of California. She is professor of English/Creative Writing at the University of So. Calif. where she founded the PhD Program in Creative Writing/Literature. Muske-Dukes is the author of 9 books of poems and four novels.
Jack Elliot Myers, United States, (b. 1941), poetry includes: Mirror for the Barnyard. Myers is a poet, educator, reviewer and anthologist. Has taught Creative Writing, English and MFA programs at Southern Methodist University and Vermont College. Myers has also been the Distinguished Poet or Writer in Residence at Wichita State University, the University of Idaho and Northeast Louisiana University.
Ogden Nash, United States, (1902-1971) – known for his witty poetic comments on social and domestic life, including the poems: The Pig and Sigmund Freud.
Patricia Neely-Dorsey, United States, (contemporary), poems include HOGKILLING TIME and MAKING CRACKLINGS. Patricia is a Mississippi Magnolia poet and advocate of the Southern Culture.
Marilyn Nelson (aka: Marilyn Nelson Waniek), United States, (b. 1946), poetry includes: Pig on the Ice. Nelson is a poet, educator, translator, and children’s book author. In 2013, Nelson was elected a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets. Nelson is a professor emerita of English at the University of Connecticut; founder and director of Soul Mountain Retreat, a small writers’ colony; and the former (2001—2006) Poet Laureate of the State of Connecticut.
Paul E. Nelson, United States (b. 1960), poetry includes: Here Pig. Nelson is a poet, teacher and broadcast interview host currently living in Seattle, Washington. He is the founder of the Cascadia Poetry Festival and author of A Time Before Slaughter Apprentice House (2009), an epic poem which re-enacts the history of Auburn, Washington, originally known as the town of Slaughter.