Where Abe saw a nest, Abi saw nets. She sawed at the tangles, her hope like blunt scissors. One day, finally, her heart flew.
Heart
Kelly was waiting
J whispered “My heart it beats like a drum”. “Boom boom”, K answered, “boom boom!”. They cyber danced and, later, they married.
Sticking plaster
He took the box of sticking plasters out of his jacket pocket. It was battered like a soft pack of European cigarettes. People in the bar noticed the movement then caught sight of his sadness and looked away.
He opened the box. He could not see clearly in the dim smoky light but, after this one he now held between his fingers, there could be only one, at most two, left in the packet.
He looked around without seeming to. He had nobody’s attention. He peeled off the backing paper and lay it next to his hat. Holding open a gap between buttons, he slid his hand inside his shirt and stuck the plaster down. He brushed his shirt closed and rubbed on his chest.
If any kind woman slowly unbuttoned his shirt, she would soon see his heart was held in one piece with lace and with sticking plaster.
Published on http://adhocfiction.com/read/ Issue 12 01 July 2015
You folded me
You folded me in your wings and I felt safety.
My heartbeat echoed your heart, and slowed.
There is always time for ever.
How old?
The clock said his head was in his fifties.
The doc said his body was in his thirties.
But his heart? Oh, when he saw her, it was a teenager’s again.
Why is a crush called a crush?
Because that is what it feels like.
Inside my chest your fingers hold me tight.
Your smile touches my private heart
which flips and fades and shivers on itself.
And then you are out of the room.
Running a distance or lying quite still
And then those days when the physical is all
We move in our bodies, the sun, sea and wind
Cherry blossom and birdsong are background to our heartbeats
Beyond the far horizon the mist clears.
Hearts are stronger
Hearts are stronger than memory: memories hold moments, hearts hold the shape of what was there and is no longer.
That moment
That moment when the sun comes out and
your heart relaxes.
The first rays of sun, the first unsure smile;
and the weights of the world disappear.
That moment.
Haunted heart
Jay’s hand was warm on Kelly’s shoulder. She looked in the mirror and he was there, smiling. Like this it wasn’t so bad, she thought. She’d thought it would be worse to have a haunted heart. Jay’s hand tightened and her breath came quicker. Then slowed. And stopped.
simonsalento 