‘Get Me Another Heart This One's Been Broken Many Times’

after Valerie Maynard (1995) 

Inside this tired flesh, hard to please

or satisfy, there are doors beyond our counting.

Locked. No matter how many keys

 

we swallow – whether sacred hosts

or miracle pill – the angel of history turns

their face away, gives up no ghosts.

 

You claim there is no other life.

But through your ribcage I have seen the evidence,

my radiograph a woken knife

 

exposing hinterlands unmapped.

Puritan, reach out, with your stiff hand grasp 

friendship’s purpose. 

                                    Release what is entrapped.

 

 iv. 2025

3 comments:

  1. Barbara DeCoursey Roy10 April 2025 at 15:13

    Mark, A strong take on the Maynard painting. "hinterlands indeed." Nice to see your blog.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you Barbara. Always good to be appreciated. Hope you're well & still writing.

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  2. I really like what you did with the last stanza.

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