Open Heart Surgery

Open Heart Surgery

Love is a large incision in the chest

a pounding heart exposed by the scalpel

creating clogged arteries

your favorite memories bypassed

after decades of neglect

The promise

of unending tomorrows A newly patched heart

the rest of your life held together by thin stitches

just seeing her face

will fill you with lingering pain

excitement will weaken over time

Love will remain scars are to be expected

This poem is a contrapuntal. You read the first column down as the first poem, the second column down as the second poem, and then you read across to form a third.

Written August 2025