At Night My Armless Brother's Heart Sounds Like This: Systole & Diastole
       

like salt
or footsteps in cement,
like cans of paint or guilt
rusted in the shed, like mint

and abstinence, sap fresh-bled from trees,
bacitracin smeared along the cut
for its antiseptic qualities
or simply put

direct upon the heart,
which, when caught in certain lights,
combusts and flies apart,
like rhubarb, or the night's

remains; like bear traps rusted open long,
like song

*

like song
remains, like bear traps rusted open long,

like rhubarb, or nights
combusted, flown apart,
which, when caught in certain lights,
direct upon the heart
(or simply put
for its antiseptic qualities)
bacitracin smeared along the cut,
and abstinence like sap fresh-bled from trees,

rusted in the shed, like mint
like cans of paint or guilt
or footsteps in cement,
like salt

Copyright © 2009 Ander Monson All rights reserved
from The Available World
Sarabande Books
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission