PORCINE

after Temple Grandin

Chewers, not biters,
stubborn, not stupid, pigs

will nibble to the bone if
you let them. A human child

raised on a farm is warned
repeatedly not to expose

extremities. They masticate
my Timberlands till I say

“Ow!” – not that they pick up
on that cue. It takes a kick

or two to let them know
I am the alpha of the pen.

Hilary Sideris has recently published poems in The American Journal of Poetry, Bellevue Literary Review, Free State Review, Gravel, The Lake, Main Street Rag, Rhino, Salamander, and Southern Poetry Review. She is the author of Most Likely to Die (Poets Wear Prada 2014), The Inclination to Make Waves (Big Wonderful 2016), Un Amore Veloce (Kelsay 2019), and The Silent B (Dos Madres 2019).