Ellis Parker Butler's "The Final Tax"
About this episode
The episode features Ellis Parker Butler's poem 'The Final Tax', reflecting on themes of bureaucracy and humor.
Today’s poem is very much on-brand for Butler, whose best-known short story, “Pigs is Pigs,” concerns “a bureaucratic stationmaster who insists on levying the livestock rate for a shipment of two pet guinea pigs.” Happy reading. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit dailypoempod.substack.com/subscribe
People in this episode
Host: Goldberry Studios
Topics covered
- poetry
- bureaucracy
- humor
- literature
- family
Keywords
- Ellis Parker Butler
- The Final Tax
- Pigs is Pigs
- poem
- bureaucratic humor
Mentioned in this episode
Books & works: The Final Tax, Pigs is Pigs
More episodes of The Daily Poem
- A. R. Ammons' "Poetics"
- from Malcolm Guite's "Galahad and the Grail"
- Norman Maccaig's "Interruption to a Journey"
- James Joyce's "On the Beach at Fontana"
- Edward Rowland Sill's "The Fool's Prayer"
- R. S. Thomas' "The Bright Field"
Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the The Daily Poem podcast page.