February and Jamie Wyeth

In honor of February...and to celebrate out loud the works of Jamie Wyeth - and yes, he's related to THAT Wyeth family...


February: “Portrait of Pig”

February – (Februarius (mensis), (month) of purification < februa, expiatory offerings, poss. of Sabine orig.) –The American Heritage College Dictionary

I
Born in this month’s girth, I called you Valentine,
You lover of trash, slurper of pre-chewed
Dinner, rooter of other people’s food;
How I loved you, remembering how fine
A day, warm for the month, which roofed your birth.
Snow dripped like grease from barn’s steeple and eaves;
It is a false spring which cruelly deceives
Farmyard children in the naked pink of earth.
Father spared you for your bigness, but said,
Handing your squealing tininess to me,
“Love demands a sacrifice, so don’t be
Surprised when it is asked. “ You felt, then, like lead
In my arms, Valentine, my heavy loved one
Born in a month of slops and expiation.

II
The pork report comes over the radio
From across the river in Iowa,
Dividing your life into a ratio
Of belly futures to marginalia:
Such greatness only portraits can contain –
From the amethyst squint of your tiny eyes
To your humanoid expanse of facial strain.
These held your pride, like a swarm of flies,
To cluster and swell, gold in pinked oils,
Strutting now above my fireplace. Gone
From all but memory’s greedy taste for spoils,
You offered prized shanks, ribbon by ribbon.
Now, they report your fame, you who were so kind
For February futures, this runt-month’s end.