HEARTwork by Valerie Parente

You only have so much space in your chest
to fit your trauma into
art is what happens
when your heart runs out of room.

You can writhe and twist
and bend and break
until your heart overflows
and there’s no more space.
So let the blood seep out
and use it to paint
a bigger picture of the human condition
beyond one person’s heartache
and in the act of being seen
from the signature of your veins
the world will have no choice
but to place your trauma in a frame.