Leah Metcalf
Hearts Beat
My shower is blue
When I bend down to wash my feet
My heart, fallen
Lowered close to the ground
I am reminded of my female body
My female heart is beating
Because it loves me
Because it loves itself
A nurse cries as she pleads for the chance
The chance—She says
Chance—A word from the Old French “cheance”
To Fall
To keep her family safe from COVID-19
Win—win
Win—win—
Later, she says she was not able to afford to isolate
And horrors befell her family
Her heart beats
My heart beats
Because she loves me
Because she loves herself
How long can she love me?
How long can I love myself?
It is too soon to fall in the spring
Our hearts beat
They will beat—
—Submitted on 03/24/2020
Leah Metcalf is a PhD student in learning sciences and psychological studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Before beginning her doctoral studies, she spent two years as an eighth-grade special education teacher for the New York City Department of Education. She has written about time and what it means to children in educational journals.
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