UNTAMED HEART
Candles spark and flicker on the Cardiac
………. Unit, one for each year of my mother’s untamed
………………. heart. Her ticker flutters wilder than the rhythms
of eighty-eight birthdays before. Beds in the Quad
………. cradle four heart patients, one for each chamber
………………. of the wordless heart. The lifespan longer
than a brief blow, but life occluded if drugs
………. don’t drain fluid from flooded lungs. Tick and beat
………………. to rest of a wild heart, a roommate
lifts out of her hospital bed. Dressed in red,
………. she draws aside my mother’s curtain
………………. and croons her take on the birthday song.
This birthday party grows no wilder, but fonder.
………. You’d think Tom Waits was croaking Frank’s Wild Years
………………. or Old Shoes about the heart not born to be tamed.
Author’s Bio
Anthony Labriola’s poetry includes: The Rigged Universe (Shanti), Sun Dogs (Battered Suitcase), Invisible Mending (Anaphora), and The Blessing of the Bikes (Anaphora). His prose works include: Devouring the Artist, The Pros & Cons of Dragon-Slaying, Poor Love (Anaphora), and The Japanese Waltzing Mouse (Cranberry Tree). Quiver will appear in 2017.