Day 569 of the daily poems, and our poet Colin Pink crafts a villanelle of the messy contradictions of the human heart.
Tales of the heart
made out of certain stories one fears to start
turn on the chaos of desire that breaks open
the messy contradictions of the human heart.
One glance of attraction refuses to be kept apart
from a flame that blazes up fierce and golden
made out of certain stories one fears to start
traversing the jagged peaks of the fever chart
to heights that injure or heal and brutally open
the messy contradictions of the human heart.
Sucked into emotion’s whirlpool we learn the art
of snatching moments that are painfully woven
made out of certain stories one fears to start.
Placed in a race with no winner that makes us part
and recognise too late on that altar we have broken
the messy contradictions of the human heart.
How were we taught to listen to that upstart
God of passion? Carelessly give it our devotion
made out of certain stories one fears to start,
the messy contradictions of the human heart.
Colin Pink
from Colin Pink The Ventriloquist Dummy’s Lament,
Against the Grain Press 2019