Little Red Hearts

a poem & a drawing

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Something must be done about these little red hearts.

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While the cardiologists are lampooned & the world gorges itself on news feeds,

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the rest of us take selfies & write op-eds to prove that we, too, are heart-checkers.

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We capture images, put them in boxes, become wilful caricatures,  

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it’s all about the journey to a certified-blue check.

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Our growth-based mindset has gone viral, malignant & infected,

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but who amongst us has the ovaries, or the balls, or the in-between to say it?

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To turn off the screen, stop feeding these tiny heart-shaped tumors before we’re dead?

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The best version of ourselves see these little bloodred hearts for what they are

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(we know the human heart is so much bigger than this)

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but that version is off-line. It has no followers. The SEO can’t fix it. 

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We return to our feeds in search of answers, scampering like spiders on the world wide web,

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scrolling through the writings on the wall, which we’ve known all along:

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our anemic souls cannot survive on this endless feed of digestible content much longer;

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we are trapped inside these little red hearts; there’s no vomit, only wretch.

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So please, be sure to subscribe, please like, & leave a comment

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Don’t feed the animals & please, please, please

❤️ OBLIVION

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I’ve been drawing again. Like I used to when I was a kid. I have to remember to zoom in & tune out all the noise.