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The Porcine Canticles
David Lee has fashioned out of the red dust of Paragonah, Utah, and Kolob Lake a tribute to the indomitability of the human spirit and to the human heart which learns first by learning how to break.
120 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1984
3 people are currently reading
95 people want to read
About the author
David Lee
17 books1 followerDavid Lee is the author of more than fifteen books of poetry including So Quietly the Earth, published by Copper Canyon Press in 2004. In 1997 he was named Utah s first Poet Laureate and has received the Utah Governor s award for lifetime achievement in the arts. A former seminary candidate, semi-pro baseball player, and hog farmer, he has a Ph.D. with a concentration in the poetry of John Milton. He taught in the Department of Language and Literature at Southern Utah University for three decades, where he received every teaching award presented, including teacher of the year three times.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
April 23, 2025
4.25 - I was a bit skeptical about a poetry collection that was entirely about pigs, but I really really enjoyed this and am excited to read it again in the future.
When it comes to poetry collections, I usually find myself resonating with a couple poems and then forgetting the rest, but the way these poems interlocked and weaved a narrative all their own was so beautifully done. Each poem felt important, whether it was one of John’s stories or a meditation on the land, the collection as a whole shines a brilliant light onto rural communities and farm life. It has tons of humor and stories just ridiculous enough that they could be true, but also underlying themes of mortality and happiness that give them the typical poetic deeper meaning. The fact that the poetry collection felt like a larger story, with the same characters and causes and effects that soak across poems, also made it feel unique compared to some other collections that just have poems ordered in no particular way.
I was a bit taken back by the first couple poems that were written in dialect, as I usually don’t enjoy when writers misspell words to emphasize a specific accent, but it works so well and feels so accurate within these poems that I can’t even complain, and honestly came to really enjoy and find charm in the unconventional style. I also think that this specific dialect worked so well since it indicated to the reader when John was the speaker of a poem rather than Dave, and we didn’t need to told that at all; we could see it from the physical way the poem was written. Then, when the language is more elevated or correct, we know that it’s Dave speaking. It’s such a subtle yet effective way to indicate to the reader when you’re changing characters, and I could really hear the rural dialect in my head while I was reading. I think this collection of poems is the best instance of a strong voice I’ve ever come across in poetry and I appreciate how it subverts the idea that “good poetry” has to be written very staunchly or with elevated language.
This collection also reminded me of the beauty of creative freedom and experimentation. If Lee had submitted one of these poems to a workshop environment, it likely would’ve been ripped apart since they don’t follow conventional means, but each poem is undeniably good, and when put into the larger scope of the collection overall, incredible. It really inspires me to see how an experimental vision can reap such beautiful rewards, and I’m eager to find more experimental poetry like this that subverts the norms and makes something amusing, poignant, and unlike anything else.
I definitely recommend this collection, as each poem will take you on a journey of emotions and insights, creating a lasting effect. I will be rereading this in the future and will be excited to delve more in depth upon a second read through.
When it comes to poetry collections, I usually find myself resonating with a couple poems and then forgetting the rest, but the way these poems interlocked and weaved a narrative all their own was so beautifully done. Each poem felt important, whether it was one of John’s stories or a meditation on the land, the collection as a whole shines a brilliant light onto rural communities and farm life. It has tons of humor and stories just ridiculous enough that they could be true, but also underlying themes of mortality and happiness that give them the typical poetic deeper meaning. The fact that the poetry collection felt like a larger story, with the same characters and causes and effects that soak across poems, also made it feel unique compared to some other collections that just have poems ordered in no particular way.
I was a bit taken back by the first couple poems that were written in dialect, as I usually don’t enjoy when writers misspell words to emphasize a specific accent, but it works so well and feels so accurate within these poems that I can’t even complain, and honestly came to really enjoy and find charm in the unconventional style. I also think that this specific dialect worked so well since it indicated to the reader when John was the speaker of a poem rather than Dave, and we didn’t need to told that at all; we could see it from the physical way the poem was written. Then, when the language is more elevated or correct, we know that it’s Dave speaking. It’s such a subtle yet effective way to indicate to the reader when you’re changing characters, and I could really hear the rural dialect in my head while I was reading. I think this collection of poems is the best instance of a strong voice I’ve ever come across in poetry and I appreciate how it subverts the idea that “good poetry” has to be written very staunchly or with elevated language.
This collection also reminded me of the beauty of creative freedom and experimentation. If Lee had submitted one of these poems to a workshop environment, it likely would’ve been ripped apart since they don’t follow conventional means, but each poem is undeniably good, and when put into the larger scope of the collection overall, incredible. It really inspires me to see how an experimental vision can reap such beautiful rewards, and I’m eager to find more experimental poetry like this that subverts the norms and makes something amusing, poignant, and unlike anything else.
I definitely recommend this collection, as each poem will take you on a journey of emotions and insights, creating a lasting effect. I will be rereading this in the future and will be excited to delve more in depth upon a second read through.
December 18, 2008
One of my favorite books of poems. I heard David Lee read twice in my creative writing program and he was a wonderful person and the readings were among the best I've attended. A very warm and genuine poet.
June 26, 2012
A third in the list of poetry books to read like novels. By turns heartbreaking and hilarious, this poet makes a reader re-think her ideas of what poetry "ought" to be.
January 12, 2022
Who knew you could laugh out loud while reading verse about raising pigs?
March 19, 2020
I love this strange and beautiful book. It was first recommended to me by my freshman year English professor at Albion college whomst I was low key in love with. I bought it immediately and read it. I just re-read it for pandemic reasons. 18 year old and 32 year old me agree!
October 20, 2022
I didn’t really enjoy this book, but that doesn’t make it bad. I just have lived enough of these experiences to have found it repetitive for my own reading. Please just don’t use this book as an excuse to look down on the farmers that keep us alive, fed, and healthy as I did witness some readers partaking in this when discussing this text among the group I read this with.
February 22, 2012
David's Lee poetry was refreshing and different with a number of poems written like sweetly-worded lullabies and the majority of the poems written in native venacular and dialect. Everyone tries to render accurate dialogue, utilizing a mix of phonetic spellings and creative punctuation; however, for all the written work I've read that tries to accurately capture the way people talk in a given locality, I have never read something that achieves that end so well as David Lee does in The Porcine Canticles. Largely the poetry consists in slice-of-life anecdotes from pig farmers, faithfully translated from the oral to the page. The uncommon environment (for poetry) and the way the whole of it hinges together like a short story cycle or multi-jointed narrative makes for an exceptionally fun bit of reading.
August 16, 2014
Read in the right accent, this is the funniest book of modern poems you'll find.
But don't mistake "funny" with "trite" – every single time I read this cover-to-cover, I weep on the last page because of what it meant in the life of David Lee and what it means in my life as I try to rediscover my roots and let them drink deep enough to fill me with my art.
If you read no other poems, read this.
But don't mistake "funny" with "trite" – every single time I read this cover-to-cover, I weep on the last page because of what it meant in the life of David Lee and what it means in my life as I try to rediscover my roots and let them drink deep enough to fill me with my art.
If you read no other poems, read this.
September 18, 2010
Humorous, bittersweet. The voices of the speaker demonstrate the tension we all feel between who we are and who we want to be. This collection is a narrative journey I'm glad I took and will likely take again. And again.
November 14, 2007
David Lee is probably one of the nicest poets I've ever met. He's humble and sweet. . .not at all intimidating. This book is possibly the best book of poems ever dedicated to a swarm of pigs.
February 14, 2015
I love David Lees work. His pig poems are the best!
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews