Filament

Photo by Jason Blackeye on Unsplash

Just what dwells in your heart?
Which way does it bend?
In domination of others?
of earth’s resources
of her creatures
or
of communion, recognition
of tenderness
of a connecting line
through birds, beasts, craggy crevices
humans, eras, the ages
the continuity of existence
from the paleozoic to the mesozoic
to now.

Are you
willing
to grapple — with those
deepest sensations
shame
greed
fear
or do you
allow them to run
wild through your veins
allow them
to swallow you whole
invade your membrane
subsume everything in its path?

Have you excised
your heart
let it lay
thumping
like a disembodied appendage
believing it a useless organ
like your appendix
an ancient, no longer necessary
hidden behind
an obscured door in a dark closet.
Wearing it
like an…