A Poem by Avery M. Guess

Author: Poetry Editor

May 10, 2018

This week, a poem by Avery M. Guess.

 

Heart Patience

 

Here’s what I know of hearts: they are two fishhooks kissing,
barbs pointing downward, a promise of pain.

My mother just called to tell me my father’s in the ICU.
His heart’s not working right. Emergency surgery.
Two stents to open the path to or from his heart.

For the past month, I’ve knitted and purled strands of red,
pink, and purple wool into tiny hearts to stitch together,
stuff, and give away. I’ve become a surgeon of yarn.

——

AVERY M. GUESS (@averymguess) received a 2015 NEA Fellowship for Poetry. Recent publications include poems in Rogue Agent, Glass, and Rust + Moth, and creative non-fiction in Entropy and The Manifest-Station. Her chapbook, The Patient Admits, is out from dancing girl press, and her full-length collection of poetry, The Truth Is, will be published in 2019 by Black Lawrence Press.