’50, INFINITY

Beside two men in demob suits, and a piglet,

he stands in rolled shirtsleeves before silver haloid birches

and reaches out a hand to rub the animal behind bristled ears.

 

I do not know who photographed the men

in this bokeh landscape somewhere outside Winnipeg or Quebec –

overexposure subtracts much next to the piglet.

 

Due to the scant leafage and the pig’s size I decide –

Late March, earth loosening and swabbed with green

smell of mildew, sweet tobacco, grainy dust on the animal’s coat.

 

He smiles broadly though the corners of his eyes remain flat.

The man beside him has lost the first fingers of his right hand.

The woods are resinous, impartial, they mumble with beetles.