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"the heart is a stupid hunter"
by Ray Sweatman

He didn't mind so much the young
couples walking hand in hand in
the park. Nor the old ones
in Morrison's Cafeteria smiling
at one another as if time were
just another tune on a jukebox.
Nor the cats taking a break
to cuddle under the shade
of a parking garage. Nor even
the birds hanging their natural
electricity from happy morning
wires. Annoying as they were,
he tried not to take it personally.
But when the blackest of all
the flocks decided to form
the shape of a massive heart
in the sky, he turned back around
to get his shotgun. "Put your gun
away, silly," she said from the bench.
"It happens every day, but
you never see me."

Ray Sweatman has an MFA from Columbia University, teaches ESL, is co- poetry editor with PJ Nights at From East to West and is still waiting for one more person to buy his book Nothing lit can leave from lulu.com, so he can afford to buy one for himself.