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The Strongest Magic

Text of Poem

Anger pens me in a sty,
shapes me bestial with snout
and tail, bathes me in filth
when I wallow in stale pride,
flies torment me, dungsmell
fills my nose, I sleep in sour
straw, eat from a trough, squeal
when the prod strikes. Light
glazes my red eyes, a cold wind
brings me bad dreams, I grunt
hairy thoughts crazed by blood
surges, until you laugh the beast
into its shadow when your kiss
turns me to a man again.

First Line
Anger pens me in a sty
Original Pub Location
Original Publication Date
1968
Original Citation
Trace (1968) 254.
Complete Poems
203
Word Count
81
Poetic Form
open
Observations
Anger as transformation into a beast
Themes
Twitter Quote
I sleep in sour / straw, eat from a trough, squeal / when the prod strikes.