Wednesday, May 8, 2013

The Heart

That which I once named an apple, once,  a piñata, is actually a heart, a three hundred gram, four chambered, hollow muscle. There is heartache, heartbeat, heartblood, heartbound, heartbreak, heartbroke, heartbound. There is, upon eating firecrackers, heartburn. We can take heart, have heart, be heartened. One can be a hearter; it can be heartfelt. I can sit heartfully on the hearth, though I don't. I can laugh until I cry, which I do. At night, I can feel my heart stop when I wake up afraid that on the other side of the wall my daughters' hearts have stopped. Take heart, have heart. Be the woman holding her heart. Since the heart as metaphor is perhaps the most painful of all metaphors, you must separate the heart from the heart. It is the opposite of cake: you can have it and eat it too. Eat your heart out. Go on. Do it.

5 comments:

drjalepeno said...

"I heart you", original author unknown.

"I come to you with a heavy heart", many authors, most recent from memory, Billy Jeff Clinton in his interview on Monica Lewinsky,

drjalepeno said...

"Heart to Heart", a conversation many people initiate, but rarely ever have.

drjalepeno said...

"He has a heart of gold", often said when referring to the Director of Security at Fort Knox

Nicole Callihan said...

Dr.J, from the bottom of my heart: I appreciate your input.

indoosri... said...

Very interesting blog!!! Loved your stories too