The Pig
was headlining the afternoon social
folks came out to catch the action
from all the local
farms and ranches
I was visiting my father's spread in
Northern California
and being a city boy
I had never seen such a thing
the event had all the energy and excitement
of a rock concert
everyone gathering in a semi-circle
like it was a dance
all of us
waiting for the
music to begin
as the pig
facing no one
stood against the barn wall grunting sotto voce
his tail switching
back and forth
keeping time
the pig farmer conducting the ceremony
primed his rifle
the click of the single shot entering the steel chamber
ricocheted across the quiet crowd
torquing the tension
the sound triggering something
in the pig as he stopped grunting
took a beat
then began to
piss
so the farmer lowered his rifle and we all waited
while the pig pissed
and pissed
and pissed
and pissed
that amazing psychic pig pissed for what
seemed like
at least
half an hour
it was obvious that
the pig knew
you could read it on his face
it was in his eyes
there
in his thoughts
reaching out like a radio signal to outer space
that this animal was hip to
what is was we were all there to
witness
that he was crossing over to where
all the other happy little pigs in the pen had been
before him
never to return
his number was up
and pigs don't smoke cigarettes
nor are they granted one last wish
last rites
or given blindfolds
so this clever pig pissed
dealing the only trick he had left in his deck
at long last the pig stopped pissing
and stood there
looking straight ahead
bladder empty
mind clear
shortly came the rifle's report
I felt sad for the pig
as he lay on his
side
twitching and kicking
the last of the life giving electricity
left on his dance card
swirling out to join the piss and the
blood
in the mud he had made
a truly noble pig
I thought
honey baked ham on holidays
pressed ham sandwiches for lunch
ham hocks and navy bean soup
grilled pork chops with fried potatoes
sausage that will stew for hours
in my wife's Italian gravy
beautiful delicious holy pig
when I am dead
however that may be
throw my body into the ground
so that the conquering worms
might
convert me
cover me
and plant an oak
that will grow strong and thick with time
tall and centuries wide
so that I can be shade and cover for
noisy gleeful pigs
unborn again
• book review with michael baskinski
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 | s.a. griffin
green hills memorial park - march 9. 2000
S.A. Griffin is a crash vampire living in Los Angeles. He is a Cadillac wrangling son of the Lone Star State. His mother was Venus on the halfshell, and his father was a used car salesman. He is rhythm and oxygen.
• Thursday nites / 12:30a.m., Midnite Pacific Slacker Time. The Auto Zone w/S.A. Griffin. Radio free radio on the net
http://www.killradio.org/.
Be late!
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