Carleton, Rachel

Pig of Bricks

1. I told them they were foolish,
2. my shiftless brothers,
3. but they refused to listen to me.
4. They would not squander their time
5. to grapple with brick and mortar
6. when straw and sticks proved
7. cheaper, easier, less complex.
8. I had envied their freedom
9. and their folly, but they are now dead,
10. and I am the next to face the wolf.
11.  
12. He thinks to outsmart me—
13. I, the pig who built
14. the house of bricks—
15. but he does not know me.
16. For while my brothers lazed
17. in the sun to avoid their work,
18. I labored under that heat,
19. stacking brick upon brick
20. to build a structure that will not fall.
21. In that process, I have constructed myself
22. into a swine as sturdy as stone.
23.  
24. He can huff and puff all he wants;
25. no blast of hot air will topple my home.
26. Let him try to claim his dinner;
27. my brothers will soon be avenged.