HEAD TO HEART

by Yvonne Morris

Fog burns off, but clouds still shade the day.
I’ll leave the morning open, watch the cat
yawn. I’m all invitations to doubt lately.

Still, I realize sun-scorched fields don’t
worry if they’ve practiced their purpose.
Ravens don’t blame the armored ground.

We can choose strength even when loneliness
nibbles on the fissured landscapes of our
bodies. We can dare to become the stethoscope—

head to heart, listening for that steady beat
of the regular world.

Yvonne Morris has been published in a variety of print and online journals, including The Main Street Rag, The Santa Clara Review, The Galway Review, and elsewhere. She is the author of two chapbooks of poetry: Busy Being Eve (Bass Clef Books) and Mother Was a Sweater Girl (The Heartland Review Press). A Midwesterner by birth, she now lives and works in a small town in Kentucky.