Kennelly, Brendan

Ireland, (b. 1936)

The Pig Killer

  1. On the scoured table, the pig lies
  2. On its back, its legs held down
  3. By Ned Gorman and Joe Dineen.
  4. Over its throat, knife in hand, towers
  5.  
  6. Fitzmaurice, coatless, his face and hands
  7. Brown as wet hay. He has travelled
  8. Seven miles for this kill and now,
  9. Eager to do a good job, examines
  10.  
  11. The prone bulk. Tenderly his fingers move
  12. On the flabby neck, seeking the right spot
  13. For the knife. Finding it, he leans
  14. Nearer and nearer the waiting throat,
  15.  
  16. Expert fingers fondling flesh. Nodding then
  17. To Gorman and Dineen, he raises the knife,
  18. Begins to trace a line along the throat.
  19. Slowly the line turns red, the first sign
  20.  
  21. Of blood appears, spreads shyly over the skin. The pig
  22. Begins to scream. Fitzmaurice halts his blade
  23. In the middle of the red line, lifts it slightly,
  24. Plunges it eight inches deep
  25.  
  26. Into the pig. In a flash, the brown hands
  27. Are red, and the pig’s screams
  28. Rise and fall with the leaping blood. The great heaving
  29. Body relaxes for Gorman and Dineen.
  30.  
  31. Fitzmaurice stands back, lays his knife on
  32. A window-sill, asks for hot water and soap.
  33. Blade and hands he vigorously purges, then
  34. Slipping on his battered coat,
  35.  
  36. Eyeing the pig, says with authority—
  37. ‘Dead as a doornail! Still as a mouse!
  38. There’s a good winter’s feedin’ in that baishte!’
  39. Fitzmaurice turns and strides into the house.

 Brendan Kennelly. A Time for Voices: selected poems 1960-1990. Newcastle upon Tyne: Bloodaxe Books (1990).

The Pig

  1. You, Heavenly Muse, how will you justify
  2. The pig’s ways to men?
  3. How will you sing
  4. Of the pig’s origin?
  5. What thighs opened wide
  6. To let out that snout
  7. Rammed on a carcase of timeless slime?
  8. When the old sly juices went to work
  9. What womb
  10. Sheltered our little darling?
  11. What breasts
  12. Gave it suck?
  13. Suck, suck.
  14. And on our treacherous planet
  15. What hearts worry for its welfare?
  16. The pig is everywhere.
  17. He grunts between the lovers in their bed
  18. His hot sperm flooding the girl
  19. His dungeon breath rutting into her skin
  20. Where a man’s fingers move in what he thinks
  21. Are patterns of enchantment.
  22. The pig’s eyes smile in the dark.
  23. The pig’s eyes glow with ambition.
  24. He knows that where his head won’t go
  25. His tail will enter,
  26. His little corkscrew tail.
  27. The pig sits on committees,
  28. Hums and haws, grunts yes and no,
  29. Is patient, wise, attentive,
  30. Wary of decision (alternatives are many).
  31. When he hefts his bottom from the chair
  32. The seat is hot.
  33. His head is dull
  34. But, maybe, he’s just a little stronger now.
  35. The pig knows how to apologise.
  36. He would hurt nobody.
  37. If he did, he didn’t mean it.
  38. His small eyes redden with conviction.
  39. Remorse falls like saliva from his jaws.
  40. The pig is bored
  41. But doesn’t know it.
  42. The pig gobbles time
  43. And loves the weekend.
  44. The pig is important
  45. And always says ‘It seems to me’ and ‘Yes, let’s face it’.
  46. The pig chews borrowed words,
  47. Munching conscientiously.
  48. Sometimes he thinks he’s a prophet, a seer so elegant
  49. That we should bow before him.
  50. He is more remote from a sense of the unutterable
  51. Than any words could begin to suggest.
  52. The pig knows he has made the world.
  53. Mention the possibility of something beyond it –
  54. He farts in your face.
  55. The pig’s deepest sty is under his skin.
  56. His skin is elegantly clad.
  57. The pig knows might is right.
  58. The pig is polite.
  59. The pig is responsible and subtle.
  60. How can this be so?
  61. I don’t know, but I have seen the pig at work
  62. And know the truth of what I see.
  63. The pig has lived in me
  64. And gone his way, snouting the muck
  65. In the wide sty of the world.
  66. His appetite for filth is monstrous
  67. And he knows
  68. There is more sustenance in filth
  69. Than in the sweet feast at the white table
  70. Where friends gather for a night
  71. Talk and laugh
  72. In a room with warm light.
  73. The pig might enter that room
  74. And swallow everything in sight.
  75. But the pig’s sense of timing
  76. Is flawless.
  77. His own throat is fat, ready to cut,
  78. But no one will do that.
  79. Instead, the pig will slit
  80. Some other throat.
  81. There will be no blood but a death,
  82. The pig will hump into the future
  83. Huge
  84. Hot
  85. Effective
  86. His eyes darting like blackbirds for the worm
  87. Waiting to be stabbed, plucked, gulped,
  88. Forgotten.
  89. And still our darling lives
  90. As though there were no
  91. Oblivion.

 Brendan Kennelly. A Time for Voices: selected poems 1960-1990. Newcastle upon Tyne: Bloodaxe Books (1990).

About the Poet:

Brendan Kennelly, Ireland, (b. 1936) is a poet and educator. Kennelly is one of Ireland’s most distinguished and best-loved poets, as well as a renowned teacher and cultural commentator.

He was Professor of Modern Literature at Trinity College, Dublin for over 30 years, and retired from teaching in 2005. Kennelly is the prolific author of over 30 books of poetry as well as plays, novels and criticism. He is best known for two controversial poetry books, Cromwell (1983), and his epic poem The Book of Judas (1991).
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