Hearts are like sewers

From my creative writing class at OWC way back in 2003

Hearts are like sewers


Hearts are like sewers
They carry the waste of the population.
They are hidden in the bowels of the earth
Forming a complex labyrinth below.
They twist and turn
All leading into each other,
Yet together, in one direction they flow.
The paths bleed together
Towards their common goal.
No one wants to acknowledge that they are there
They feel ashamed,
That they are a weakness.
If the sewage completes its journey
Through the sewers
It is cleaned and filtered,
Then returned home again to nourish
But, without careful care and maintenance
The worst of the muck, clogs the system
And is vented out, into the open
Polluting everyone around.


Revised
Hearts are sewers



Hearts are sewers
Through the diverse scattered entry ways
They begin carrying the waste of the population.
Hidden in the bowels of the earth
They Form a complex labyrinth below
Twisting and turning from secreted beginnings
All leading into one another
The paths bleed together
Towards their common goal
To complete their journey
Where then the sewage is cleaned, filtered
And returned back again to nourish.

When the outside chooses to ignore al but the filth
Then they feel ashamed of the presence underneath
They repel its very existence
Turning blindly to what they feel
Is only a weakness.
But, without careful care and maintenance
Build up will clog the system
And be vented out into the open
Polluting everything around.