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10-IdleHeart

How To Rouse an Idle Heart

Let your lies toss and moan,

deep inside the bones

dissolving into that acid ocean

where a body, any body,

anybody transforms.

A frenzied fever is the

only flame hot enough

to burn away the

self-taught bars, the

cheap mettle of ennui.

Fear submits faster

than you’d think.

It only takes a second’s

pause of silence to die

or to live to speak

A promise is no more

than an exit plan

than a chance to run away

than open cowardice

than the cruel act itself.

Raise a timid hand

stand up and shout

yourself to attention:

How can I bite my tongue

when they call my name?

Deborah-Zenha Adams

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