The Delicate Mechanism of the Heart

  • The Delicate Mechanism of the Heart

Here's a beautiful new poem published in the March 2014 issue of The Sun magazine. I hope you enjoy it.


Red Tights


For Maxine


When I see my friend’s little girl

In the produce aisle, she beams, “I’m happy.

I have new red tights and a boyfriend!”

We’re standing between the twin peaks

Of apples and tomatoes,

Light shining off their taut skins.


She does not know

That she will spend her whole life

At the mercy of the opening and closing

Of the delicate mechanism of her heart.


Just this morning, I ran into an old lover.

When he kissed my cheek,

I inhaled his scent and was thrown

Back to a time when all we wanted

Was to fit completely inside each other’s bodies.


Something we took as seriously as engineers

Contemplating how to land a rocket

On a moon of Jupiter.

And sometimes we succeeded,

And for a moment

The universe seemed to balance

On a fulcrum, the slight wobble

Of the earth’s orbit steadied.


How loyal the heart is, a stray dog.

Today, when my ex turned and walked

Into the crowd, all I could do

Was stand and watch

As mine trotted after him

Down the long sidewalk.

And then he rounded the corner

And disappeared.


-Danusha Laméris 

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