Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE BLUE HOG, by NORMAN DUBIE



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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE BLUE HOG, by         Recitation by Author             Poet's Biography
First Line: I didn't have to buy the acid
Last Line: Who's said to still be in the district.
Variant Title(s): A Blue Hog
Subject(s): Death - Children; Devil; Pigs; Revenge; Death - Babies; Satan; Mephistopheles; Lucifer; Beelzebub; Boars; Hogs


I didn't have to buy the acid.
I found it in an old battery in the barn
Where the cows make sea noises
And the cobwebs are plated gold.
There were packets of birdseed, white floats
Of cork, turpentine, and an old black fishline
Which shouldn't have worked but did.
All of it a sin for the taking —
I chose the acid for its smoke
And the fishline to tie around my toe
To remind me of the smoke.
I threw the rotten apples into the yard
And the blue hog charged.
He was unpardonable, having
Killed my sister's child. John couldn't
Butcher him —to eat that hog
Would be to eat the child.
I poured the acid into pink Christmas bulbs
And sewed them into the hollowed apples.
I put them out into the sun to soften.
The hog swallowed them whole like smoke.
By the time he looked under himself
He was already broke. My long dress shook.
He stopped to give me a look,
And then ran straight at the barn.
His head and shoulders passed through the boards.
The horse inside
Had a hissing fit over him. Nobody
Has ridden that horse since
Except for the devil
Who's said to still be in the district.





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