"On Learning to Dissect Fetal Pigs" by Renée Nicole Good

Renée Nicole Good, née Macklin won the Academy of American Poets Prize for a poem called “On Learning to Dissect Fetal Pigs" in 2020.

"On Learning to Dissect Fetal Pigs"

i want back my rocking chairs,

solipsist sunsets,

& coastal jungle sounds that are tercets from cicadas and pentameter from the hairy legs of cockroaches.

i’ve donated bibles to thrift stores

(mashed them in plastic trash bags with an acidic himalayan salt lamp—

the post-baptism bibles, the ones plucked from street corners from the meaty hands of zealots, the dumbed-down, easy-to-read, parasitic kind):

 

remember more the slick rubber smell of high gloss biology textbook pictures; they burned the hairs inside my nostrils,

& salt & ink that rubbed off on my palms.

under clippings of the moon at two forty five AM I study&repeat

               ribosome

               endoplasmic—

               lactic acid

               stamen

 

at the IHOP on the corner of powers and stetson hills—

 

i repeated & scribbled until it picked its way & stagnated somewhere i can’t point to anymore, maybe my gut—

maybe there in-between my pancreas & large intestine is the piddly brook of my soul.

 

it’s the ruler by which i reduce all things now; hard-edged & splintering from knowledge that used to sit, a cloth against fevered forehead.

can i let them both be? this fickle faith and this college science that heckles from the back of the classroom

               now i can’t believe—

               that the bible and qur’an and bhagavad gita are sliding long hairs behind my ear like mom used to & exhaling from their mouths “make room for wonder”—

all my understanding dribbles down the chin onto the chest & is summarized as:

life is merely

to ovum and sperm

and where those two meet

and how often and how well

and what dies there.

Renée Nicole Macklin, whose later married named is Renée Nicole Good described herself as a “Poet and writer and wife and mom and shitty guitar strummer from Colorado; experiencing Minneapolis, MN.” 

Good, a 37-year-old U.S. citizen, lived in south Minneapolis with her wife just blocks from where she was shot and killed by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent on Jan. 7, 2025, according to the Minnesota Star Tribune. She had three children: a 6-year-old son with her second husband, who died in 2023, and two other children from her first marriage who live with extended family.

National Poetry Month: "Father Benjamin," by Lewis Mundt

Lewis Mundt // Father Benjamin // A Poem Observed // Button Poetry

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Lewis Mundt performs Father Benjamin at Carleton College's Skinner Chapel in Northfield, Minnesota.
http://www.poetryobserved.com

Poetry Observed is committed to producing high quality videos of performance poetry, filmed off the stage. Our first series features Minnesota spoken word poets and was produced in collaboration with Button Poetry.

Like performance poetry? 

Donate to "Holy Spoken Word," Necessary Poetry's 1st Anthology:

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Click here to help support our efforts on Kickstarter. A donation of even $10 or $20 gets us closer to our goal of our first publication and establishment of a nonprofit spoken word collective open to all.

National Poetry Month: "Unrequited Love Poem" by Sierra DeMulder

Sierra DeMulder // Unrequited Love Poem // A Poem Observed // Button Poetry

Purchase this track at the Button Store: http://store.buttonpoetry.com/track/the-unrequited-love-poem

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Sierra DeMulder performs Unrequited Love Poem in St. Paul, Minnesota.
http://www.poetryobserved.com

Poetry Observed is committed to producing high quality videos of performance poetry, off the stage. Our first series features Twin Cities based poets and was produced in collaboration with Button Poetry.

Like performance poetry? 

Donate to "Holy Spoken Word," Necessary Poetry's 1st Anthology:

A multimedia anthology, showcasing the amazing writing, artwork, and spoken-word performance of the Necessary Poetry collective, a group of poets from Sedona, Flagstaff and Prescott.



Click here to help support our efforts on Kickstarter. A donation of even $10 or $20 gets us closer to our goal of our first publication and establishment of a nonprofit spoken word collective open to all.

National Poetry Month: "When I Move" by Khary Jackson

Khary Jackson // When I Move // A Poem Observed // Button Poetry

Button Poetry on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ButtonPoetry?ref=hl

Khary Jackson performs "When I Move" at a park in St. Paul, Minnesota.
http://www.poetryobserved.com

Poetry Observed is committed to producing high quality videos of performance poetry, filmed off the stage. Our first series features Minnesota spoken word poets and was produced in collaboration with Button Poetry.

Like slam poetry? 

Support "Holy Spoken Word," Necessary Poetry's 1st Anthology:

A multimedia anthology, showcasing the amazing writing, artwork, and spoken-word performance of the Necessary Poetry collective, a group of poets from Sedona, Flagstaff and Prescott.

Click here to help support our efforts on Kickstarter. A donation of even $10 or $20 gets us closer to our goal of our first publication and establishment of a nonprofit spoken word collective open to all.

National Poetry Month: "Punk Rock John" by Neil Hilborn

Neil Hilborn // Punk Rock John // A Poem Observed // Button Poetry

Button Poetry on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ButtonPoetry?ref=hl

Neil Hilborn performs "Punk Rock John" in St. Paul, Minnesota.
http://www.poetryobserved.com

Poetry Observed is committed to producing high quality videos of performance poetry, filmed off the stage. Our first series features Minnesota spoken word poets and was produced in collaboration with Button Poetry.

National Poetry Month: "Seven Confessions on Cheating" by Dylan Garity

Dylan Garity // Seven Confessions on Cheating // A Poem Observed // Button Poetry

Button Poetry on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ButtonPoetry?ref=hl

Dylan Garity performs Seven Confessions on Cheating in Northfield, Minnesota.
http://www.poetryobserved.com

Poetry Observed is committed to producing high quality videos of performance poetry, filmed off the stage. Our first series features Minnesota spoken word poets and was produced in collaboration with Button Poetry.

Like slam poetry? Support "Holy Spoken Word," Necessary Poetry's 1st Anthology:

A multimedia anthology, showcasing the amazing writing, artwork, and spoken-word performance of the Necessary Poetry collective, a group of poets from Sedona, Flagstaff and Prescott.

Click here to help support our efforts on Kickstarter. A donation of even $10 or $20 gets us closer to our goal of our first publication and establishment of a nonprofit spoken word collective.

National Poetry Month: "Flatland" by Sam Cook

Sam Cook // Flatland // A Poem Observed // Button Poetry

Purchase this audio track at The Button Store: http://store.buttonpoetry.com/track/flatland
Button Poetry of Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ButtonPoetry?ref=hl

Sam Cook performs Flatland in Northfield, Minnesota.
http://www.poetryobserved.com

Poetry Observed is committed to producing high quality videos of performance poetry, off the stage. Our first series features Twin Cities based poets and was produced in collaboration with Button Poetry.

Like slam poetry? Support "Holy Spoken Word," Necessary Poetry's 1st Anthology:

A multimedia anthology, showcasing the amazing writing, artwork, and spoken-word performance of the Necessary Poetry collective, a group of poets from Sedona, Flagstaff and Prescott.

Click here to help support our efforts on Kickstarter. A donation of even $10 or $20 gets us closer to our goal of our first publication and establishment of a nonprofit spoken word collective.

National Poetry Month: "Shelters" by Michael Lee

Michael Lee // Shelters // A Poem Observed // Button Poetry

Michael on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/MichaelLeeWritesButton Poetry on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ButtonPoetry?ref=hl
Michael Lee performs Shelters in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
http://www.poetryobserved.com

Poetry Observed is committed to producing high quality videos of performance poetry, off the stage. Our first series features Twin Cities based poets and was produced in collaboration with Button Poetry.

Like slam poetry? Support "Holy Spoken Word," Necessary Poetry's 1st Anthology:

A multimedia anthology, showcasing the amazing writing, artwork, and spoken-word performance of the Necessary Poetry collective, a group of poets from Sedona, Flagstaff and Prescott.

Click here to help support our efforts on Kickstarter. A donation of even $10 or $20 gets us closer to our goal of our first publication and establishment of a nonprofit spoken word collective.