Heart’s Paradox

Paula R. Hilton

When you weren’t looking,
I slipped a piece of my heart,
its left ventricle, into your
suitcase. This chamber pumps
blood throughout the entire
body. Mine, yours, ours.

Waiting for a transplant,
Stan Larkin lived 555
days with no heart at all.
Carried artificial organ’s
power source inside a gray
backpack, and carried on.

I’m not as strong. If the left
ventricle fails, blood flows
backward, lungs fill with
fluid, organs swell. Living
without you is hell. Heart’s
paradox: it works harder,
grows weaker. Come home.

Photo by Hernan Sanchez on Unsplash

Written by 

Paula R. Hilton explores the immediacy of memory and how our most important relationships define us. Her work has appeared in Feminine Collective, The Sunlight Press, Writing In A Woman’s Voice, The Tulane Review, and many others. Her poetry collection, At Any Given Second, was selected by Kirkus as one of its best books of 2021. She earned an MFA from the University of New Orleans.

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