by Laura Rodley
His heart is carefully tendered,
a stent maintaining a constant
opening in his left descending
artery, the artery that was
completely blocked three years
ago causing his heart attack,
before his surgery. His heart has
healed to full sixty percent ejection
fraction: normal. He takes his meds
regularly, calls me, his wife, to say
he’s taking them while on the road,
a way to remember what is so easy to forget.
Before his heart attack, the pumping action
of his heart was just an afterthought, a given,
no monitoring or overseeing required.
Now he is father to his heart, constantly
aware of its pulses, aware of pains that were similar
to his neck pain, the nausea, when his heart
was blocked, a pearl spun of his own plaque
blocking the flow. He will always be watching
the rhythm of his heart, aware of its working, or not.
His heart is no longer a child released out
into the world like his son and daughters.
His heart rides with him everywhere,
has special needs: low salt, no butter, only
olive oil, a specific regimen he must follow
to not fail his heart so his heart won’t fail him.
Though, if, in spite of this, his heart fails,
it would not be his fault: it’s genetics, an inherited
weakness that overtipped the cart, but now he’s
pushing it, all of it, his heart, his father
who had four heart attacks, his being father
to his own heart, making sure it wakes up
on time, beats on time, he’s never closing the door.
Laura Rodley, Pushcart Prize winner, is a quintuple Pushcart Prize nominee and quintuple Best of Net nominee. Latest books: Turn Left at Normal by Big Table Publishing, Counter Point by Prolific Press, and As You Write It Lucky Lucky 7, a collection of 11 writers' work.