Another Feeling by Ruth Stone

Once you saw a drove of young pigs

crossing the highway. One of them

pulling his body by the front feet,

the hind legs dragging flat.

Without thinking,

you called the Humane Society.

They came with a net and went for him.

They were matter of fact, uniformed;

there were two of them,

their truck ominous, with a cage.

He was hiding in the weeds. It was then

you saw his eyes. He understood.

He was trembling.

After they took him, you began to suffer regret.

Years later, you remember his misfit body

scrambling to reach the others.

Even at this moment, your heart

is going too fast; your hands sweat.

I found this poem completely randomly - I literally clicked the "Find Random Poem" button on the POL website, and this was one of the only ones longer than twelve lines. But I did not decide on it right away. I had a few other options, but ultimately I picked this one, for several reasons. Everyone I asked about which poem I should do out of my options all said this one, because it seemed like "me". I understood why they thought this, as I have pretty intense opinions on animals' rights, but does that mean they don't see me as someone who would talk about birds and the ocean and "pretty" poems? I'm more closely associated with a story of a dying pig? But then I realised this was a good thing, and it was true, I did have more of a connection with this poem than with a poem about a bird on the ocean or leaves in the sky. 

When my family got a puppy this summer, I was shocked to learn that many animal shelters do not have "no kill" policies, and that even those considered "no kill shelters" still kill animals that are deemed "unadoptable"for some reason or another. That horrified me, as I had always thought that the shelters were saving animals. I was appalled to learn how many killed animals that there were no room for, or that had behavioural or medical problems. 

This is what is implied to have happened to the pig in this poem - he was hurt, so they killed him. This poem warns you. When you think you are doing some good deed, helping someone, you may actually be hurting him or her further. The person in this poem deals with the misplaced guilt he feels for unintentionally causing the pig's death. The pig might have died anyway on the highway, or soon after, because of its injuries. But the person the narrator is addressing in the poem feels it is his fault that the pig died, because of his mistake in calling the Humane Society. Some might argue that the person did the right thing, because he put the pig out of its misery. I would argue that the person did probably do the right thing in calling, because he/she had no way of knowing that they would end of killing the pig, but I do not entirely agree that its better to put it out of its misery. I know that it must be suffering, and killing it would end that, but I just cannot agree with any kind of murder, especially of an animal that cannot speak for itself and tell want it wants. I can understand why he/she would feel guilty, even if he/she could not have foreseen this, I would feel the same way. The person acted on an impulse to help the pig, and he/she should not blame his/herself. I'm sure this could be applied to other situations, not just a warning against animal shelters. Doctors who euthanize patients would feel similarly I would think. Their intentions were well-meaning, but the way they acted upon them was wrong, in my opinion. 

 On the structure of the poem - all the elements come together to form the grave, serious tone of this poem. The lines are short, the sentences abrupt. Stating the facts, describing the objects with carefully chosen adjectives, just enough to describe the feeling, not more. The adjectives are few but strong. The effect of having the story told in the second person, the narrator telling the event of the reader back to him/her, intensifies the emotions. The reader feels the emotions as if it is he/she had actually experienced that event, and someone is telling him/her his/her own feelings. Describing both the emotions the person feels himself, and the emotions he can sense from the pig adds to the personal connection the reader feels with the person and the pig in the poem. The sentences are abrupt and blunt, and so is the storyline. Though it is not specifically stated that the pig is killed, it is clearly and very bluntly implied. I know it does not really make sense to say it that, how can something be implied, assumed in a blunt way. But the way the poem tells the story, so directly and brusquely, the reader feels as though the fate of the pig has been just as frankly stated as if it had said "THEY KILLED THE PIG".