Japan/United States, (b. 1956)
Pig
- Poor patient pig—trying to keep his balance,
- that’s all, upright on a flatbed ahead of me,
- somewhere between Pennsylvania and Ohio,
- enjoying the wind, maybe, against the tufts of hair
- on the tops of his ears, like a Stoic at the foot
- of the gallows, or, with my eyes heavy and glazed
- from caffeine and driving, like a soul disembarking,
- its flesh probably bacon now tipping into split-
- pea soup, or, more painful to me, like a man
- in his middle years struggling to remain
- vital and honest while we’re all just floating
- around accidental-like on a breeze.
- What funny thoughts slide into the head,
- alone on the interstate with no place to be.
About the Poet:
Henri Cole, Japan/United States, (b. 1956), is a poet and educator. Cole is an American poet, who has published many collections of poetry and a memoir. His books have been translated into French, Spanish, Italian, German, and Arabic.
Henri Cole was born in Fukuoka, Japan and raised in Virginia. From 1982 until 1988 he was executive director of The Academy of American Poets. Since that time he has held many teaching positions and been artist-in-residence at various institutions, including Brandeis University, Columbia University, Davidson College, Harvard University, Ohio State University, Reed College, Smith College, The College of William and Mary, and Yale University. He has collaborated with the visual artists Jenny Holzer and Kiki Smith. And from 2010 to 2014, he was poetry editor of The New Republic. Cole currently teaches at Claremont McKenna College.
He is the author of six collections of poetry beginning with The Marble Queen in 1986 and, most recently, Blackbird and Wolf (2008). He is a master of cadence, and a connoisseur of the suggestive mysteries surrounding cadence, how rhythms and meanings rub against each other. “To write only a poem of language,” he has said, “or only a poem of emotion is not enough. The two must wrestle vigorously with one another, like squirrels for a nut.” [DES-05/22]
From the Porkopolis Archive:
- Compare this poem with Chantal Bizzini’s poem Pig, a sequel.
Bizzini describes hers as “A possible continuation” of Cole’s poem.