A Permeable Heart

David M. Alper

The insubstantial, rootless character of words

bothers her as she thinks, but they are the most

worthless things you cannot afford to lose.

 

People-pleasers don’t require words. Regrets,

like weeds, must be eradicated before they

spread. If a permeable heart begets

 

disappointment, hers is flint. She claims she

doesn’t need love or hate. She wonders if there is

a mathematical formula for calculating

 

how quickly someone is forgotten.

David M. Alper‘s forthcoming poetry collection is Hush. His work appears in Scapegoat Review, Invisible City, New Note Poetry, and elsewhere. He is an educator in New York City.

© Variant Literature Inc 2023