The Thing About the Heart

The thing about the heart is,
while lying in such positions that
it pumps against the rib cage
telegraphing its rhythm
to the outer senses,
that it doesn't belong to you.

It seems somehow alien,
seldom heard,
and less often felt,
but when it is,
however briefly,
mortality skips
like a stone across the mind,
and you start adding and subtracting
and forecasting a lifetime.

Then the phone rings,
and you grab the cigarettes,
light one, and breathe
great clouds of immortality.


(Sou'wester, Southern Illinois University, Fall, 1988)