Considering the pig, a single-minded bestiary.
An alphabetical list of poets who have considered the pig.
United States, (contemporary) Pig Truck Love Affair Ah, (cough, cough) got me a truck to use fer haulin’ pigs. It’s a big dirty truck and not clean like other rigs. My pig haulin’; truck is caked with rust, pig shit and piss. Ugly, stinkin’ flithy mess, impossible to miss. We go down the highway, … Read more
Charles Simic, Yugoslavia / United States, (b. 1938), poetry includes: Butcher Shop, Tapestry and Back at the Chicken Shack. Simic is a poet, educator, translator and former co-poetry editor of the Paris Review. He is professor emeritus of American Literature and Creative Writing at UNH, and was appointed the 15th Poet Laureate of the U. S. in 2007.
Mark Sinnett, Canada (b. 1963), poetry includes: At the track, or Dog chases rabbit. Sinnett is a poet and winner of the Gerald Lampert Award in 1998 for his poetry collection The Landing, and the Toronto Book Award in 2010 for his novel The Carnivore. Sinnett is currently based in Kingston, Ontario, where he also works as a full-time real estate agent.
Mitch Sisskind, United States, (b. 1946), poetry includes: Calliope and The Girls Began Speaking Pig Latin. Sisskind is a poet, a short fiction writer and guest lecturer and a ghost writer of sixty books. A spiritual person, Sisskind finds cosmological joy in the human enterprise. He edited The Stud Duck and has worked on such literary magazines as Columbia Review and Living Hand.
Robin Skelton, Canada (1925-1997), poetry includes: Wart Hog. Skelton was a poet, academic, writer and anthologist. He became Professor of English at the University of Victoria in British Columbia and served as Founder Chairman of Department of Creative Writing 1973-76. He was well known for his work as a literary editor and was a founder and editor, with John Peter, of The Malahat Review.
United States, (b. 1935) In Poland, Pigs Having roughly the body weight of humans, the pig is a subject for tests of various kinds – of drugs, for example, but also of man’s (and woman’s) aspirations. All of us turn our minds to heaven, hope for justice, pray that the swine who cheated us, … Read more
Ernie Slow, New Zealand, (1891-1960), poetry includes: Bray Kills a Pig. Slow was a poet but supported himself throughout his life as a shepherd, rabbiter, fencer and for years a gun shearer, based in Fairlie, NZ in the Mackenzie Country.
Britain, (1722-1771) The Pig a fable In ev’ry age, and each profession, Men err the most by prepossession; But when the thing is clearly shown, And fairly stated, fully known, We soon applaud what we deride, And penitence succeeds to pride.– A certain Baron on a day Having a mind to show away, Invited all … Read more
United States, (1893-1961) The Thralls Of Circe Climb Parnassus Between the mountain meadow and the pines In one still wave the flowered azaleas clomb— A billow laced and crested with pale foam Unscattered by the balsam-bearing winds. High-rearing on their miry haunches, where Some grassy-bottomed tarn had sunk and died, A black hog and … Read more
David Jeddie Smith, United States, (b. 1942), poetry includes: Pulling a Pig’s Tail, Smithfield Ham and Corner Room, Hog-Scald in the Air. Smith is a poet, writer, critic, editor and educator. Currently, Smith is the editor of the Southern Messenger Poetry Series at Louisiana State University and Elliott Coleman Professor of Poetry and Department Chair at Johns Hopkins University.