A Boar Buys Real Estate in Fukushima Prefecture
By Shastra Deo
for a snootful of roots, fallen fruits, and the carrion
of a cream-coloured marten. She scuffs a four
-hoofed footpath into the linoleum. Enough room
for her furs. The tusks of past lovers. Her life
without leaving at sunrise—she can already see it.
Her birthplace was razed for a house like this.
Market’s recovering, the boar realtor says. Scrap
and build. This world is cursed but you find reasons
to keep on living. The boar is quiet. She is happy. She
has survived on this land for a decade. For the young
everything needs fixing. From her window
she can see the mountains, just like
from any window.
Copyright Credit: Shastra Deo, "A Boar Buys Real Estate in Fukushima Prefecture" from The Uncollected Animals: Poems for Our Nonhuman Kin, A Global Anthology. Copyright © 2025 by Shastra Deo. Reprinted by permission of Turtle Point Press.
Source: The Uncollected Animals: Poems for Our Nonhuman Kin, A Global Anthology (Turtle Point Press., 2025)