Pig Dreams: Scenes from the Life of Sylvia: Poems

My name is Liebe Coolidge and Sylvia was my house trained pig in Vt. in the 70's. I was a very close friend of Denise Levertov and we decided to do the book together. She knew Sylvia. The pastel drawings were done over a few year period . I would draw the stories of my life with Sylvia and all my other animals. Denise would come over and ask about a drawing and I would tell her the story. She would go home and reapper with a poem. That is how the book came to be. She really got to the heart of Sylvia. It was as if Sylvia was talking. I was very lucky to have known Den. I have a new pig now. He has lived with me for 8 years and I have painted him quite a bit. One can get in touch with me at : [email protected] . I am thrilled you are all enjoying the book. Liebe

Pig Dreams is a marvelous book of poetry and watercolor. I would not consider it a young people's book in particular, and am surprised to see it being sold as such.As I heard the story, Denise Levertov's friend, Liebe Coolidge, a watercolor artist, actually had a pet pig, the Sylvia of the poems, and did some beautiful watercolors of life on her Vermont farm. Denise Levertov, on seeing the watercolors, was inspired to write the poems, taking the pig's point of view. But they are not cutsy. They are real poems. I teach an adult poetry writing class, and each term use Pig Dreams to inspire my students to "take another point of view" in their writing. It is always a big hit.