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X-rays and broken hearts

Janet Kuypers
10/29/15

X-rays of small children
show two rows of teeth,
because once baby teeth
are too small for the child,

adult teeth push those baby teeth
out, break through the gums
and take over the job.
And this is really remarkable —

I mean, it’s not like your hair
which can always grow out,
and even though skin
is the largest human organ

it’s not like shedding
and growing more skin,
it’s not like cutting yourself
and watching an organ heal.

These are bones,
because your body knows
before you’re born
what you need in life...

And I wonder why
genetics hasn’t figured out
that we humans may need
a new heart, a back-up,

after it has been broken
too many times. Because,

after you’re been fired
and someone there watches
you collect your belongings
and escorts you out forever,

or after you’re sent you can’t
remember how many résumés,
and even if you’re interviewed,
they never want you back.

Or after you find your one
true love, well, that’s when
they move away, to get away
from you forever.

Or after your family dies,
and you’re alone.

After it feels like your heart
is always about ready to break,

it make me wonder why
genetics hasn’t figured it out.
We might need a back-up.
Our heart can only take so much.


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video videonot yet rated
See YouTube video (Cps) of Janet Kuypers reading her poem X-rays and broken hearts 12/13/15 at the Austin open mic Kick Butt Poetry
videonot yet rated See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers performing poetry and song (with John on guitar) 12/13/15 at the Austin open mic Kick Butt Poetry (Canon Power Shot), with her song What We Need In Life (with her poem Fantastic Car Crash inside the song),
X-rays and broken hearts, & the Burning.


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