the heart visits Antarctica
the heart reaches
the hut first and unpacks his medicines he wears a reindeer vest
and finnesko boots
he renames his chambers parlour morning room
sitting room dining room
he uses the pericardium as a hammock he burns blubber
to fatten the walls
he teaches his vena cava to stream plaque
he experiences mood swings
and hangs fairy lights he dyes his membranes green and blue
and begins
a comparative study of cardiology
these days
before takeoff when he consults the windsock
he sometimes presents
as a sleeve of arteries and the sly metallic pain of crosswinds
lift the ashes
of a butcher’s cough where he once lived
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