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once upon a time, a boy plucked my heart from my chest

he stroked it and smiled at me, caved my breast

in around the empty cavity and wiped away

the anxiety with simple words in honeyed rays

he took my heart away with him, somewhere too far to find

until i could see it no more, left behind

i crumbled inward till no one recognized me

they took away the pieces and buried me

then one day he returned and thought of me, thought to put me back together

rubbed his hands and dug me out, tugged me to him with a tether

he solidified the ashes i had become, fashioned me into a single piece

i opened my eyes and let out a sigh, wondered at his caprice

i asked him for my heart, he told me it was safe

i shook my head, lifted shaking limbs, unsound and chafed

he brought it out to show me, and knives stuck deep into the flesh

the organ blackened, rotting, i could not see i could not hear my nostrils filled

he smiled at the railroad tracks cracking through my face–breaking into bits–

his teeth black and bloodied–

swallowed the heart whole

i screamed and screamed

till he silenced my lips

sucked me in

consumed me

*Scholastic Silver Key for Poetry