Paired: Core + Arnold

Early American, Blackberries (Raphaelle Peale) by Sharon Core 12 x 17.75 inch, c-print, edition of 7 (2008)

The Heart Under Your Heart

            Who gives his heart away too easily must have a heart
            under his heart.                       
               —James Richardson

The heart under your heart
            is not the one you share
so readily      so full of pleasantry
            & tenderness

it is a single blackberry
            at the heart of a bramble
or else some larger fruit
            heavy      the size of a fist

it is full of things
            you have never shared with me
broken engagements      bruises
            & baking dishes

the scars on top of scars
            of sixteen thousand pinpricks
the melody you want so much to carry
            & always fear black fear

or so I imagine      you have never shown me
            & how could I expect you to
I also have a heart beneath my heart
            perhaps you have seen      or guessed

it is a beach at night
where the waves lap & the wind hisses
            over a bank of thin
translucent orange & yellow jingle shells

on the far side of the harbor
            the lighthouse beacon
shivers across the black water
            & someone stands there      waiting

—Craig Arnold
Published: The Paris Review No. 189 Summer 2009