famous reporter 15

[June 1997]

James Charlton

Walleah Press

Currajah

Man with Pigs

My name was Legion, ha,

                                        yes

                                              we were many, and

gashed our heads

                                   on those gravestones.

Didn't know what we really wanted -

                                                           (lurching to greet the

True Man, as his fans called him,

                                   and shouting at the same time:

                                                                      'Go Away!')

- Such violence to my real self

                                        (he told me);

such fear which tossed me

                                                                    tomb to tomb.

... But since the pigs have drowned,

                                               I limp towards my own cliff.

James Charlton's poem 'Man with Pigs' is part of a project assisted by the Minister for the Arts, Sport and Recreation through Arts Tasmania.