breaking open, four chambers of blood, bed clothes spooling red rain or one scissor
kick, an organ attempting AWOL.
She knows enough
to know these things
happen, the healthy spouse
collapsing days after
the beloved. She’s seen
the graves.
When will science
learn what her father knows—
the heart is a house
tended with dream, it gives in
when it wishes.
Originally published in Lifelines: A Literary & Art Journal from the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth and subsequently republished in The Cardiologist's Daughter, Two Sylvias Press, 2014.
Natasha K. Moni
Natasha Kochicheril Moni, a first-generation American born to native Dutch and East Indian parents, writes and resides in the Pacific Northwest. Natasha's first full-length poetry collection, The Cardiologist's Daughter, was released by Two Sylvias Press in 2014. Her poetry, fiction, essays, and reviews have been published in over fifty journals including: Magma, Verse, Luna Luna, DIAGRAM, [PANK], Hobart, and Rattle.
She holds a BA in Child Development from Tufts University, received her Post-baccalaureate pre-medical certificate from Mills College, and is a naturopathic medical candidate at Bastyr University.
Note: The poet is herself a cardiologist's daughter. Notice, too, how the shape of the poem mirrors the 'scissor kick' back-and-forth movement of blood through the heart.
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