It's neither red
nor sweet.
It doesn't melt
or turn over,
break or harden,
so it can't feel
pain,
yearning,
regret.
It doesn't have
a tip to spin on,
it isn't even
shapely—
just a thick clutch
of muscle,
lopsided,
mute. Still,
I feel it inside
its cage sounding
a dull tattoo:
I want, I want --
But I can't open it:
there's no key.
I can't wear it
on my sleeve,
or tell you from
the bottom of it
how I feel. Here,
it's all yours, now --
but you'll have
to take me,
too.
Rita Dove
My Heart
My own heart let me more have pity on - Hopkins
I woke with the same heart I had last night.
No transformation happened while I slept.
Same useless, softy heart that fell apart
Just yesterday (along with eyes that wept
And brain that’s still fixating on it all).
Why can’t I have a better, stronger heart?
A heart that chills, deals, moves on, gets a grip?
A lovely, sparkly, shiny work of art?
My own heart I just can’t have pity on;
Instead there’s the embarrassment and shame
I feel right now at all the ways I feel,
the feelings both without and with a name.
I am so sick of every bump and scar,
Oh heart, I am so tired of how you are!
Ruth, from thereisnosuchthingasagodforsakentown.blogspot.com
This week's roundup is here.
8 comments:
These are wonderful in both similar and different ways. I love the tone of yours and your exasperation with your own feelings. I can certainly relate. And you wrote a sonnet! Lovely.
Love Dove's humor, 'you'll have to take me, too", and yours, Ruth, is poignant to me, like an apology for taking too, too much to heart, YOUR heart. Lovely to ponder.
That ending of Rita Dove's poem--fabulous. And then your sonnet--I especially adore your third quatrain. So endearing and human, Ruth!
Ruth, the craft in your poem impresses me so much. I love that you worked from a line in a Hopkins poem (maybe it's a title. I didn't check.) To me,the narrator/you clearly is/are an open-hearted person who is empathetic and compassionate, sometimes bearing more weight than is possible. It's a great complementary poem to Dove's.
What a beautiful pairing. The Rita Dove poem is beautiful and clever. Your poem is beautiful and real! I love both...but yours a bit more. xo
A beautiful poem looking inward at your heart's feelings, and it's so matter of fact. I too love the ending of Rita Dove's poem. These two work very well together, thanks Ruth.
Thanks for sharing both of these poems. Rita Dove's is such fun and I can so relate to yours.
Wow, very powerful pairings! Thanks for sharing your "heart" with our Poetry Friday gathering.
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