Fairytales for the Heart
by Evan Daily

 
First there’s the story of the heart protecting

the snake from the voyeurism of bees,

or the one about the heart in the saloon

that stopped just when the bad guy

was aiming for the town mayor

still getting his gun. There’s the mighty heart

of the long distance woodpecker

and the heart that refused to look down

so the aerialist could walk between centuries.

There’s the heart, so the tale goes, as big as a whale

who saved the good-luck crickets from drowning

and the many stories of hearts that made pirates

walk the plank of their arteries.

There’s also the time when all the pigeons

put their hearts together in the plaza

to save poets from the executioner’s rifle.

And then there’s the escapades of the juggler’s heart,

poor rebel, swallowing fire for pennies

trying, in turn, to warm the hearts of the lonely

waiting on line in the cold

at the town’s old movie theatre to buy tickets

for the night’s last picture show.