- Deck of Hearts, and: Highway
Deck of Hearts
What do people mean when they say, In my heartof hearts____? Is that like how my brother explained to my neighbor,Anne, that he has dozens of roles women playin his life, but sleeping with him was not her role? Nobodyhas more than one heart, so perhaps they are talking about a deck of cardsand maybe the Three of Hearts is their heart of hearts—some amateurversion of tarot reading, some lucky poker winner. My brother gave hera brotherly hug, told her he wasn’t Mr. Right or even Mr. Right Nowbut let her sleep off her drunk on his couch cuddling his dog. She was certainhe was her King of Hearts and showed up the next nightwith her guitar, her hair and makeup close to beautifuland still she was not his Four-the-Night of Hearts. Maybehis heart of hearts was the Ace he carried in his wallet, the Glock he keptloaded under his pillow, the butane smell as he burnedthe deck, got out of this town, not to somewhere better—just got out, that Ace of Hearts he’d shuffled back into the deckburned, too, and now his heart of hearts is ash and who knowswhat happened to Anne and her guitar. Who knows what goesthrough his mind now as my brother searches for heartsat the casino / bowling alley where he mixes drinksfor the entire deck, the Four-the-Nights and Queenshe keeps neatly stacked across the bar, none of them Hearts. [End Page 147]
Highway
The angle of the sun setting says winter.Ice on the blacktop reflects headlights,moonlight. What pauses roadsideeye-glints, tempts anyone aloneto follow its animal scent to a warm den,to primal tendencies—teeth-snappingfights for territory, pack, bad meatswallowed with gravel, bone. To a scavenger’sneed to press forward, howling. [End Page 148]
Ciara Shuttleworth’s poems have previously appeared or are forthcoming in The Los Angeles Review, The New Yorker, and The Norton Introduction to Literature, 11e. She is originally from San Francisco but grew up in Nebraska, Nevada, and Washington State. Currently she lives and works in New York City.