Intelligent animals

The pigs are happy
and we cannot understand why.
We have mentioned China’s
industrial explosion but they shrug
it off and make a contented sound
from deep inside their rectangular bodies.

What about the media, we ask,
where you are less news-worthy
than dogs. They nuzzle the dirt
and do a little roly-poly.

We show them buckets of antiseptic.
We show them photos of cows on fire.
We show them footage of intensive pig farming.