In a different story, the animals conspire
to become wolf by draping a cloak
over their hulk and growling at women
who pass on the street. Everyone is convinced
the pigs are human. A real man high, high up
in a skyscraper sees the three-pigged man, notices
the lovely pink peeking from the cloak, and hurries
to offer the piggybacked pigs a pair of bootstraps
to pull themselves up by; a corner office; a certificate
of self-worth signed by everyone in the land; a list
of everything they’re allowed to take, which is simply
a list of everything in the land, albeit one
with women’s names in bold and in one-point-larger font;
a Tinder profile seeking women in the area, which
is a conditional offering that, if refused,
renders all the other offerings void; a ticket
to a workshop on proper dick-pic protocol; a *spoiler*
on that workshop, which is that the answer is early, often,
and always; an offhand racist remark; a clap
on the back and a chortle to emphasize the remark
and its humor; a pair of New Balance sneakers;
a Tonka truck for their son; oodles of double standards
for their daughter; a dog because cats are pussies,
for pussies; another clap and chortle for obvious reasons;
a backstory with just enough disappointment
that they are certain they can’t possibly be privileged
and that privilege is a dirty, dirty lie; and, lastly,
a large pile of feed because they are just pigs, after all.
Published in Cider Press Review, Volume 22, Issue 4.
Reese Conner is the winner of the 2020 Cider Press Review Editors’ Prize for his manuscript The Body He Left Behind. He received his M.F.A. from Arizona State University, where he has continued to teach composition and poetry workshops. His work appears or is forthcoming in Tin House, The Missouri Review, Rattle, Ninth Letter, Cimarron Review, New Ohio Review, and elsewhere. Reese is an Assistant Poetry Editor for Fifth Wednesday Journal. He received the Turner Prize from the Academy of American Poets, the Mabelle A. Lyon Poetry Award, and the now-defunct Chili Pepper from Rate My Professor. He was a finalist for the 2019 New American Poetry Prize, the 2018 Cider Press Review Book Award, and his poetry has been nominated for a Pushcart.
See all items about Reese Conner
