United States, (b. 1969)
From Pigs to the Dogs
- Priscilla the visayan warty pig
- has learned to dig with a tool.
- She digs with her nose, like all
- other pigs, but then she’ll pick
- up a stick or a scrap of bark
- and use it to dig a hole.
- It’s unprecedented—a pig
- using a tool. And it gives me hope
- that I, too, might evolve to acquire
- something new—for instance,
- an ability to understand sarcasm—
- without which, studies say, I seem naive.
- Sarcasm, experts say, is most used
- amongst people we love, despite the fact
- that it comes from the Greek,
- “to tear off flesh like dogs.”
- Even a computer can comprehend
- that sarcasm’s a tool for telling
- true lies. So why am I so sincere?
- Why does my right hemisphere not know
- when “yeah, right” really means, “no way?”
- Oh Priscilla, you inspiring visayan warty pig,
- if you can evolve beyond your nature,
- do you think perhaps I might? Yeah, right.
About the Poet:
Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer, United States, (b. 1969), is a poet, storyteller and writer about the creative potential. She earned her MA in English Language & Linguistics at University of Wisconsin, Madison. In Colorado she served as San Miguel County’s first poet laureate (2007-2011) and as Western Slope Poet Laureate (2015-2017). In 2019 she was a finalist for Colorado Poet Laureate.
She is the author of many collection of poetry, including Hush (2020), which won the Halcyon Prize; Naked for Tea (2018), a finalist for the Able Muse Book Award; and The Less I Hold (2016), a finalist for the Colorado Book Award.
Devoted to helping others explore their creative potential, Rosemerry is the co-host of Emerging Form, a podcast on creative process (with Christie Aschwanden), co-director of Telluride’s Talking Gourds Poetry Club (with Art Goodtimes) and co-founder of Secret Agents of Change (with Sherry Richert Belul). She also directed the Telluride Writers Guild for ten years. [DES-07/22]
Additional information:
- For more information about Priscilla and her tool-using prowess, visit
Pigs were spotted using tools for the first time – https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/06/us/pigs-use-tools-study-scn-trnd/index.html - Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer’s Books, Schedule & Services are at: https://www.wordwoman.com/
- Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer daily poems can be found at A Hundred Falling Veils: https://ahundredfallingveils.com/