Hemoglobin

 

 

He had an operation to remove a nail embedded in his chest

The nail was made of iron and had an affinity for his blood

Hemoglobin, rich with Oxygen, is mildly attracted to magnetic fields

 

He was mildly attracted to various things

There was a woman at the movie theater who he stared at

Unusual for him, he found her difficult to ignore

 

The nail was red-hot from being in a high-frequency induction coil

He held it in a pair of pliers and fell down the stairs

The nail was pointed at his heart

 

She was not like other women

He started to see her in crowded rooms,

Driving a car down the street

 

A tenpenny nail is three inches long

In the days when nails were wrought by hand

A single nail was worth ten cents

 

Maybe it was the same woman, and maybe it was not the same woman

The attraction took hold in earnest

And he longed for her – he made complex scenarios about her

 

The nail had missed piercing the sternum, passing between ribs

And avoiding his right lung my one centimeter

His heart was in no danger

 

He never met her or spoke to her

He imagined that she was fascinated by him,

That she contrived ways to meet him, perhaps as an accident

 

She would show him the nail, later

Wrapped in sterile gauze, and say

“Look what just missed your heart”.

 

©2017  eolon

 

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