Our Hearts Were New
       

We married in a jar with holes in the lid

We were not insects       but we were both small

And had glass skin almost invisible

And graphite hearts that made black marks inside

Our skin our       hearts both looked like thumbprints on

A mirror from the beating of our hearts

Irregularly beating       smudges not

Beautiful hearts not human or cartoon

Hearts but our arms and legs       our faces and

Our hearts were human       and the jar was hu-

man was       a part of us no part of us

Was human in the world but in the glass

Jar every part was our       hearts pounded hard

Our hearts       were new and their black stains were new

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Copyright © 2022 Shane McCrae All rights reserved
from Mule
Cleveland State University Poetry Center
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission