poem: unprotected

                 The problem is my heart,

                             you see.

                     It just plain refuses

                        to hard boil, no matter what

                            I do to it.

 

                I have tried full immersion

                  in roiling hot seas

                    pickling spices, microwaved

                      depravity, open flame,

                           abdication of duty.

 

                       And I tell you...

                  after these decades, still

                          if you pried off its shell,

             pricked it with your fork,

                    sliced its midline with

                        a sharpened knife-

 

                 you would find the center

                        liquescent, golden

                 running into the shadows of your life's

                     serving plate; and utterly

                            unprotected.

                           

Reviews

[Horizon K.]

Having a heart that is resilient, that continues to look for love and beauty in this world is a beautiful thing. Painful, perhaps at times, sometimes we may even try to hard boil that, imagining if we could kill that part of ourselves we would come across that pain less often. But the heart is the heart... It seems to choose its own path...
...Beautiful poem Marie, love the metaphors here...

[Marie Anzalone]

Thank you, Horizon, I love your reviews; they are always so insightful and gentle and probing- and right on. The heart does choose his or her own path and desires, for sure. I often wonder- what is it about some people? Why does the same experience shut some down, and open others up? Is it genetic? Is it environmental? Family influence? Social adaptability?

I wonder what we could learn by studying the resilient of heart?

[Tree]

Every time I am fortunate enough to meet one of those rare people, who no matter how many times they've met misfortune; heartbreak, and disappointment; yet still retain the goodness of spirit, I count myself blessed. And I am rejuvenated. I am not one of those people but I respect and honor those who do not let the world harden their hearts, I know it's not easy. But what kind of world would this be if those compassionate souls did not exist to buffer ourselves against ourselves? Thank you for sharing this.

Diego

[Marie Anzalone]

Ah dear friend, you cannot know how much I have longed for your insightful words this week. I think you give yourself far too little credit sometimes. It has been a week of horror here, as you know if you, like turned on the tv at all this week. And some online nastiness, too. But there you go.

I like rereading works that affect me. Recently, for a fellow WC poet, I read aloud Madeline L'Engle's "A Swiftly Tilting Planet." In it, a bitter, broken old woman essentially saves the world. The last line is, I think, and important treatise on the importance of each and every person who is willing to soften their heart, no matter how late in the game:

"In the end, it was herself that she placed beween the world and the powers of darkness."

[Tree]

That is an amazing quote that fits perfectly within the framework of this discussion and your poem. I believe with all my heart that if these nurturing souls were not amongst us scattering their seeds of hope, the rest of us would tear each other apart. Thank you, for the vine Raquelita.

[Marie Anzalone]

de nada, amigo

[Marie Anzalone]

Saw this, and thought it added nicely and appropriately to the convo thread here, especially considering the source:

"Be soft. Do not let the world make you hard. Do not let pain make you hate. Do not let the bitterness steal your sweetness. Take pride to know that even though the rest of the world may disagree, you still believe it to be a beautiful place."
-Kurt Vonnegut

[Matthew Kult]

Hello Marie,

Sounds like a Cannibal's delight.
Sweetly penned.

Always,

Matthew
A.

[Marie Anzalone]

would explain much about my dating history, I think... ;-)
thanks for the review today. much appreciated

[TLK]

I enjoyed how you treated this weighty theme with wry humour. Perhaps the heart had to be hard boiled early in life, before too much softness can give you the pudgy confidence of an eternal puppy.

[Marie Anzalone]

We equate willingness to be vulnerable with weakness, but the opposite is true, I think. Those who remain "soft puppies" I beliueve use it as an excuse to stay sheltered in life and never get involved. So much rarer is the person who has been in any of the trenches of human warfare, bitterness, and resentment; and escapes with heart intact and still willing to offer vulnerability to another. I think there is courage in saying no matter hwat happened before, I am willing to try again, stronger and smarter this time.

You are dead on in your assessment of the playfulness of a serious subject :-)