KYLE SEAMUS BROSNIHAN / EMPIRE
my normal heart
my mandatory heart
my only heart
my tedious heart
my circular heart
my disposable heart
my blue heart
is a pit I keep falling into
my cancerous heart
is a bone I keep choking on
my too-good-to-be-true heart
is the rabbit in the wheel
my make-believe heart
is the deus in the machina
my romantic heart
my asian heart
my feminine heart
my stupid heart
where did the world go?
if you have to ask, you’ll never know
my actual heart
you’re born and then you die
you fall in love, break
my plastic heart
and then you die
my forgetful heart
you’re dead and the ands stop anding
that’s the only word
my repetitive heart
knows
and and and and
and
my fearful heart
and
my cheap heart
and
my deluded heart
the only reason I’m alive is that
my automatic heart
wants me to be
and and and
my cloudy heart
my too-lousy heart
my lackluster heart
my morning heart
is so different than
my evening heart
my arrogant heart
relapses into
my evasive heart
relapses into
my apologetic heart
relapses into
my vengeful heart
relapses into
my comely heart
my homely heart
my come-homely heart
a sigh full of failed wanting
my out-of-shape heart
must labor to laugh
my expired heart
is well-versed in the art of parting
my ironic heart
is hanging off the edge of a chasm and
my septic heart
is the only thing to cling to
my pale heart
loves books more than it loves the world
my ancient heart
longs for beauty and blood
my universal heart
cares not for the universe
my roman heart
wants to burn this country to the ground
my impatient heart
shoves a clock in my face
my shallow heart
drowns me
my detestable heart
detests me
my dystopian heart
controls
my every word
my untransplantable heart
is the only gift I have to give
my untranslatable heart
is the only gift I have to give
my despotic heart
is the only gift I’ve tried to give
my unrelenting heart
and and and
my never-ending heart
and and and
my paradoxical heart
but
my misanthropic heart
hates all of you
my cliche heart
loves all of you
my ten-sizes-too-small heart
dreads christmas
my disappointed heart
has nothing to give
my grey heart
is just as much of a failure
as last year
my silent heart
my savage heart
my useless heart
where did the world go?
my fickle heart
where did the world go?
my past and future heart
is not what it used to be
my promised heart
and the sound fire makes
my literal heart
and the sound water makes
my platonic heart
and the sound wind makes
my lonesome heart
and the sound
my random heart
makes
my reckless heart
and and
my patronizing heart
look
a cloud collides with
my cacophonous heart
my anonymous heart
abandons all names
my brosnihan heart
no, not that one
my redshifted heart
no, not that one either
my lazy heart
my obvious heart
my asinine heart
whatever
my know-it-all heart
a sigh full of lost love
my burning heart
bernie forgot how to write poems
my laughing heart
meanwhile,
my fascist heart
forgot how to love
whatever
love is boring
my heartless heart
loved three women
and now
my hideous heart
is totaled
my picky heart
won’t love you if you are smarter than me
my judgmental heart
won’t love you if you are dumber than me
my defensive heart
won’t love you if you challenge
my ludicrous heart
my superficial heart
won’t love if you’re not my kind of pretty
my masochistic heart
won’t love you unless you won’t love me
my idealistic heart
won’t love you unless you know
where did the world go?
my haggard heart
won’t love you if you know all the answers
my uncollected heart
won’t love if you question
my schizophrenic heart
won’t love you because there’s not enough time
my wandering heart
will be wandering soon
and soon enough
my dear heart
departs
my american heart
longs for the road
my freudian heart
longs for the load
my princess heart
longs for a toad
my bourgeoisie heart
longs for comfort
and days with absolutely nothing
to do
my reactionary heart
quashed
the rebellion in you
my temperamental heart
my fleeting heart
my comedic heart
ha
my murmuring heart
haha
my irrelevant heart
hahahahahaha ha
so
my shape-shifting heart
walks into a bar and
my self-destructive heart
drinks itself to death
hahahahahaha or
orororororor or
my kamikaze heart
misses its mark
and bursts against the sea
without honor
O
my innocent heart
don’t you know?
the world is a joke and
my cowardly heart
is a punchline
the world is a map and
my callused heart
is a mountain
the world is a library and
my square heart
is a lost book
the world is a kitchen and
my salty heart
is the trashcan
the world is a drug and
my psychedelic heart
is an addict
the world is a body and
my caustic heart
is a spleen
my lying heart
my accidental heart
my shrouded heart
misses missing you
even though
my deaf heart
never heard a word you said
my blind heart
never saw
your blind heart
my two-faced heart
played us both for fools
betting on
my charming heart
was a bad move, girl
my raging heart
put on a show
my condescending heart
thought it was being clever
my byzantine heart
led you through maze
and left you
in the middle
my unforgiving heart
called it quits
over nothing
my perverted heart
just wanted to fuck you
my inconsiderate heart
never took you seriously
my excuse for a heart
is terrified of the serious
my forbidden heart
seems so far away
my god-forsaken heart
is so far away
my difficult heart
gets farther away
ever day
imagine
if the moon did that
there would soon
be no moon
my unnatural heart
my artificial heart
my unforgiving heart
and
yet
still
my incapable heart
tries to reconcile
the void
within
my violated heart
and
my violent heart
with
the void within
my violet heart
my honest heart
my nebraskan heart
my 25-year-old heart
misses
my 16-year-old heart
my dehumanized heart
wouldn’t even try
to catch you
my tender heart
ain’t that tender no more
my desolate heart
my hideous heart
my disobedient heart
jesus I can feel it now
my god I can feel it
something is terribly wrong
in the heart of
my unconscionable heart
my nostalgic heart
is so young but already
my unconsoled heart
is as ruined as chernobyl
my radiated heart
poisons the air
of every room
my ominous heart
enters
my inelastic heart
exits
my civilized heart
draws the curtains
my expensive heart
is so terrified of debt
it now declines to purchase
if only
my mediocre heart
could find someone
if only
my half-hearted heart
could find someone
if only
my default heart
were
my sincere heart
and could find someone
listen. listen.
the great cliche
my tragic heart
my naive heart
my artsy-fartsy heart
my boring heart
over here
longing for love
a laugh a laugh
I know
but that’s how it is
my eternally regressive heart
can’t help it
my treacherous heart
longs for love
my machiavellian heart
longs for nothing
but love
trust me
even though
my sharp heart
is armed
with a scoff
and a sneer
my sincere heart
my favorite heart
my sweet heart
longs for love
my childish heart
longs for love
my golden heart
longs for love
that’s what hearts do
I don’t care who you are
that’s what hearts do
my strange heart
longs for love
my suicidal heart
longs for love
my human heart
longs for love
for love
for love
and and
like a dawn
love alas arrives
and
would you look at that?
my alien heart
is not here
Kyle Seamus Brosnihan is a poet from Lincoln, NE. He graduated from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln in 2016 with a bachelor of arts in English. Since then, he has been running a literary space called The Aliens, where he hosts a weekly writers’ group, organizes readings, and fosters creativity in his community.