Frances Anne King
Hearts and Other Organs
I remember a museum of glass bottles,
shelf after shelf rising to the ceiling.
Were the skylights domed? Does it matter?
The light was granite-flecked, dimly illuminating
a Victorian freak-show of medical specimens -
speckled, puckered, gill-like tissue all in tall flasks
floating down the years in liquid chemicals;
an army of jetsam collated and collected.
I remember the foetuses, some wrapped in cauls -
the sailors’ lucky charm - others so transparent
I could see the heart behind the shadow of the lungs,
the armour of ribcage, the hands and nails
curled bleak and beautiful as plainchant,
rocking in their sea of loss.
Page(s) 21
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