Ablation Poem by Helen Mort

Ablation

Rating: 4.6


Inside the Northern General
they're trying to burn away
a small piece of your heart.

I want to know which bit,
how much
and what it holds.

My questions live
between what doctors call the heart
and what we mean by it,

wide as the gap between brain and mind.
And in our lineage of bypassed hearts
we should be grateful

for the literal. I know my heart
is your heart — good for running,
not much else

and later as you sit up in your borrowed bed
I get the whole thing wrong,
call it oblation. Offering

or sacrifice. As if you'd given something up.
As if their tiny fire was ritual
and we could warm by it.

COMMENTS OF THE POEM
Paul Brookes 13 October 2016

Amazing nothing more to add

1 0 Reply
Edward Kofi Louis 13 October 2016

Oblation and ablation. Thanks for sharing this poem with us.

1 0 Reply
Pranab K Chakraborty 13 October 2016

Actually the spark of writing skill makes the reader spell-bound. Literally confused what's the truth surgery or artistic suffering! Love or living.... main necessity of heart according to various ideological and material aspect... what's the truth! A piece of poetic achievement tried skilfully to define their conjugation. Thanks a lot.

1 0 Reply
Bharati Nayak 13 October 2016

Yes, there is a wide gap between what doctors mean by 'Heart' and what we understand.Is it only an organ constituting muscles, and blood vessels pumping and purifying blood or the Centre' of all emotions and feelings? Doctors are right if they surgically remove any extraneous growth that block the flow of blood and we are right when we want to keep our hearts clean by removing bad emotions like anger, envy, fear and hatred etc.A nice, thought provoking poem.

0 0 Reply
Madathil Rajendran Nair 13 October 2016

A very good write. But can't understand how this straight write gets the modern label. (10)

0 0 Reply
Susan Williams 13 October 2016

Written from that heart. Quietly powerful. Ablation is a procedure to treat atrial fibrillation (AFib) , a type of irregular heartbeat.

0 0 Reply
M Asim Nehal 13 October 2016

Skillful writing, I liked the poem. Congrats for POTD honour.....Loved it 10+++

0 0 Reply
Anil Kumar Panda 13 October 2016

This is a very nice poem. Enjoyed reading.

0 0 Reply
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Helen Mort

Helen Mort

Sheffield
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