---
title: 'The Boar'
project: 'Elegies for Alternate Selves'
...

Now the ticking clocks scare me. \
The empty rooms, clock towers, belfries; \
I am terrified by them all.

I really used to enjoy going to church, \
singing in the choir, listening to the sermon. \
Now the chairs squeal like dying pigs---

It was the boar that did it. \
Fifteen feet from me that night \
in the grass, rooting for God \
knows what, finding me instead.

I ran, not knowing where or how, \
not looking for his pursuit of me. \
I ran to God's front door, found \
it locked, found the house empty

with a note saying, "Condemned."