The Hearts of Men Who Loved Me

No two look quite alike

Different shapes, different sizes

They're almost like snowflakes

Different colors, different materials

Different degrees of feeling left in them

These are the hearts of men who loved me

I keep them all in a tiny box under my bed

I pull them out now and again

Recount and reminisce

They're beautiful in an ugly sort of way

It's an odd sort of collection

A feelingless box of emotions

There's the first one I ever got 

The sweet one, the unrequited love

It's shiny and soft and pure

He gave me his heart six years ago

I've never bothered to return it

There's the big one, the one who put me on that pedastal

The one that gave me everything he could

When I couldn't give an inch

Too bad I wasn't a boy like he wanted...

There's the black heart, the one made of wires and rawhide

The one that took my heart and used it as a toy

He fucked me up

Beat me up

Kept me on a string for years

I still haven't forgiven him

There's the little one, the one I tried to love

But there wasn't enough of it for him to love me as well as he loved himself and his lies

And all the other women he didn't tell me about...

There are tough ones and kind ones

Ones I disregarded and ones I didn't mean to break

There's the one now that I wear around my neck

I wonder if he too will become just another heart in my box

His heart is gold and unbroken

I'd like to keep it on a chain forever

But the trouble with a girl who has a box of broken hearts under her bed

Is that there is a box of men who want their hearts back

I keep them though

To recount and reminisce.

So I close the lid

And slide the box back under my bed

And fall asleep

Above the hearts of men who loved me

Reviews

[Steve Thompson]

Can I just say WOW kiddo, I thought this is one of the more creative pieces I have read, and it was so focused, really good, going in my fav's