In Dawn the Heart

In dawn the heart's slow tented eyes
flicks light upon dark ventricles
blood attempts to leap
beats against blind streets
ochered to rayed aortae
fractured into
window panes
of tunnelled sound

Platelets rubbered from wear
soar mercuried on tracks
underground
shiver in the nucleus of blue
the veins of morning

I enter the 20-70 vision
of the pulsating street
the once new house
corridors
memories of afternoons
we became arteries
of red notes clustered
in bleats
fisted hot in upper chambers
pummeled time
to prance
dance upon the valves
to erase the blip
of laughter and forgetting

Now in dawn the heart
flicks light upon plumbed ventricles
and weeps.

--Diane Schmolka

This poem is about the deep depression following a love affair with an artist. The depression lasted for over a year.

I am a musician, (lyric soprano), poet and writer, and have lived in Ottawa since 1969. I am now in my second marriage, and took my husband's name. Before that, I continued with my first husband's name, "Stevenson." I have written extensively in both names, but first began writing poetry at the age of 9. The first poem to be published was a sample of blank verse, and won honourable mention in the St.Laurent High School Annual in 1958. My name was Diane Miles then. I hope these poems will be of some benefit to your readers.

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"Our feelings are our most genuine paths to knowledge."
- Audre Lorde