Pig

In this vivid, sensuous, and gorgeous third collection, Sax (bury it) considers the extended and various metaphors of the pig in all its forms. By using the pig as both subject and object, Sax navigates queerness, filth, beauty, and capitalism, exploring at all times “the animal yearning/ within the animal within the animal.” Sax situates the pig long before an age of wealth, greed, and violence: “pig existed before we had tongues/ to name it.” In doing so, they remind the reader that “it’s a miracle life existed here at all.” These poems celebrate all things that seek to subvert dominant structures, drawing attention to the beauty of messy, complicated states and advising that “there are so many words for you children &/ none of them are dirty” and to “be disgusted into beauty.” With tenderness, a critical eye, and a longing borne from the feeling that “i’ve never been lonelier than i am/ right now,” Sax turns their rumination on the pig into a consideration of everything. Finding beauty in the lowest, filthiest things, these poems guide the audience’s gaze toward redemption. (Sept.)