Wednesday, September 5, 2007

A poem



I've been reading a book - 'ten poems to open your heart' by Roger Housden, and this poem by Galway Kinnell did just strike a deep chord in me... who of us (especially mothers!) haven't felt that sow-like feeling, or have walked past someone else who is so humble/downtrodden/looked down upon, and uncomfortably looked away. So I copied it into my journal - my loopy inward-looking journal, not the shiny happy one - and drew a sow as I remember them long ago on my Uncle John's farm in Zimbabwe, long since obliterated. Huge, patient, smelly, repulsive, her only purpose to produce and feed the squealing pink piglets attached to her belly. Yet there was something entirely noble and beautiful about her, which she surely deserves to be blessed for.

1 comment:

Gillian said...

I love the sow poem - and my heart aches along with her huge broken one... I remember the massive pigs on Uncle John's farm... Remember how they used to put their front hooves on the wall and have "a chat" to their neighbour...?