NIJO Cenka/Japan

Inome

There’s a boar 

trapped in my left chest.

Its eyes shine through the slits between my ribs, 

and sometimes it tramples my diaphragm 

with its hard hooves.

I’d love to let it run free, 

but if it charges out blindly and hurts someone...

that’s the last thing I want.

So I keep it here, caged but still breathing.

—Once a small striped piglet, weren’t you?

No longer quite so endearing, 

now covered in wiry, bristling hair.

But still a coward, just the same—

In its cramped cage, 

it’s thrashing again.

I wonder what’s scaring it now.

Tonight, too, the footsteps of the beast echo 

through my hollow body.

*Note: “Inome (猪目)” is a traditional Japanese heart-shaped motif. The word literally means “boar’s eye.”