Past Work > Sting in the Heart

Sting in the Heart
Sting in the Heart
2013

Sting in the Heart: a lexicon of heart(strings) tugged, plucked, pulled

Scientific

Chordae Tendineae otherwise known as heartstrings. Cord-like tendons that connect the papillary muscles to the tricuspid valve and the mitral valve in the heart. They used to think heartstrings kept the heart in place, to brace it. Staying in place is different from staying together.


Theoretical

To activate nerve, pull solitary strand for sting
For Pull, fist several thousand to tug
No ends dangle from the chest unattached
Slacken yes
exercised to lean
imperceptible slim indeed
(All are prone to infection; routinely spanning distances, causing lurching
sustained tugging, the tendon reddens, calcifies)
Heartstrings begin as irreducible lines
exiting via pore
entering recipient via pore
thickening from heart to heart
My heart goes out to you
on temporary loan
Heartstring grafting requires another cliché
Perhaps surgical language is of use
This is no fuzzy red yarn tied in bows from wrist to wrist
This is muscle
shooting from chest to chest
pink slick mucus sheen
tense and taut
That’s why heartstrings are plucked
exacting shudders through fragile centers
You are here with me
In heart and line