Porkopolis

Behold

• And came forth like Venus from an ocean of
• heat waves, morning in his pockets and the buckets in his hands
• he emerged from the grey shed, tobacco and wind
• pursed together in song from his tight lips he gathered the day
• and went out to cast wheat before swine. And in
• his mind he sang songs and thought thoughts, images of clay
• and heat, wind and sweat, dreams of silver and
• visions of green earth twisting the cups of his mind
• he crossed his fence of wire, the south Utah steppes
• bending the air into corners of the sky he entered
• the yard to feed his swine. And his pigs, they come.

---

Jubilate Agno

•  
• CHRISTOPHER SMART,
• 1722-1771
• IN MEMORIAM
•  
• For I will consider my black sow Blackula.
• For she is the servant of the god of the feed bucket and serveth him.
• For she worships the god in him and the secret of his pail in her way.
• For this is done by screams of incantation at the appointed hour and lusty bites of daily communion.
• For she stands with forelegs upon the top rail of the wooden fence in supplication.
• For she grunts her thanks while she eats.
• For she stands for the red boar with closed eyes at the appointed hour.
• For having done she lies in mud to consider herself.
• For this she performs in ten degrees.
• For first she rolls in her wallow to cover her body.
• For secondly she lies still to feel the wet.
• For thirdly she stretches her length and casts her belly to the sun.
• For fourthly she exhales God's air in huge sighs.
• For fifthly she rises and examines her feed trough that replenishment might miraculously appear.
• For sixthly she scratches her side against the fence.
• For seventhly she scratches her jowl with delicate pastern swipe.
• For eighthly she smells the breeze to ascertain the red boar's presence.
• For ninthly she returns to her mud and plows large holes in the earth.
• For tenthly she lies again in the wallow to cool her frame.
• For having considered her world she will sleep and dream dreams of herself and her god and the red boar.
• For like Eve for softness she and sweet attractive Grace was formed.
• For the red boar lusteth mightily and foameth at the mouth for her.
• For he might escape and enter her pen.
• For if he does this in a non-appointed hour she will scream loudly and discourage his kisses.
• For her belly is full and needeth no more.
• For in one month she will bring forth life in abundance.
• For in her last litter she farrowed eight piglets of the red boar.
• For three were black and five were red.
• For she raised them all and lay on none.
• For one in eight is normally crushed by the sow.
• For she is exceedingly good in all that she does.
• For she is surely of the tribe of Elephant and forgetteth not.
• For she weighs near six hundred pounds.
• For she has ears of tremendous size.
• For she is heavy.
• For a large sow is a term of the Titan Elephant.
• For she has the appetite of a bird and would eat the day long which in debt her master suppresses.
• For he would not have her too fat nor his checkbook hollow.
• For he keeps her well-fed and she breaks no fence.
• For she grunts in pleasure from the mud when he scratches her ears.
• For she is a tool of God to temper his mind.
• For when she eats her corn she turns and shits in her trough.
• For her master is provoked but hereby learns patience.
• For she is an instrument for him to learn bankruptcy upon.
• For he lost but four dollars each on the last litter of pigs.
• For this is admirable in the world of the bank.
• For every man is incomplete without one serious debt or loss.
• For she provides this with her good faith.
• For every farm is a skeleton without a mortgage.
• For the Lord admonished black sows when He said lay up no stores of treasure on earth.
• For she prohibits this daily.
• For she is a true child of God and creature of the universe.
• For she is called Blackula which is a derivative of the Devil, but false.
• For she does worship her God and Savior.
• For she was given her name for breaking a fence and eating Jan's garden beets.
• For when Jan came with a stick and wrath she lifted her head and smiled.
• For her teeth and mouth were stained with red beet pulp.
• For Jan dropped the stick and laughed.
• For she looked like a six-hundred-pound vampire.
• For she was called Blackula.
• For we feed her red beets daily to watch her smile.
• For she is humble when well-fed.
• For she makes her point well when she is hungry.
• For there is nothing swifter than a sow breaking fence when she desires.
• For there is nothing more beautiful than a sow in full run when being chased through a garden.
• For there is no sound more pure than her scream when she is hit with a stick.
• For she is meek in all aspects when satisfied.
• For when John Sims saw her lying in mud he proclaimed her majesty.
• For he whistled and called her a pretty sonofabitch.
• For he offered to trade his beat-up truck for her straight across.
• For she has divine spirit and is manifest as a complete pig.
• For she is tame and can be taught.
• For she can run and walk and sleep and drink and eat.
• For she can scream at the red boar.
• For she allows her ears and belly to be scratched.
• For she allows small children to ride her back.
• For she sleeps in mounds of straw at night.
• For she produces litters of healthy black and red pigs.
• For she can root the earth.
• For she can carry sticks in her mouth.
• For she will grunt when she is addressed.
• For she can jump not far but hard.
• For dried earth cracks in the places where she walks.
• For she is hated by the breeders of cattle and sheep.
• For the former loses more money than I do on his stock.
• For the latter fears her mind.
• For she has no wool and will not blindly follow his steps.
• For he carries no bucket of feed.
• For she litters twice per year.
• For he litters but once.
• For her belly is firm and can take much abuse.
• For from this proceeds her worth.
• For I perceive God's mystery by stroking her teats.
• For I felt tiny lumps of flesh within and knew they were alive.
• For the life is the physical substance which God sends from Heaven to sustain the appetites of men.
• For God has blessed her womb and the red boar's seed.
• For they multiply in ecstasy at the appointed time.
• For God has blessed her in many ways.
• For God has given her the red beets to eat.
• For God has given the water for her to drink.
• For God has allowed the water to spill on the ground.
• For God allowed the water to turn to mud in a place for her to lay.
• For she cannot fly to the mountain streams, though she walks well upon the earth.
• For she walks the earth heavy upon tiny feet.
• For she treads all the rows of the summer garden.
• For she can jump the fence.
• For she can push it down.
• For she can eat.