Heart

My father
Lives in me
His judging gaze looks out through me —
Sometimes
When I look around
His nose sits on my face
His eyes see through mine

My mother
Lives in me

When I was younger
Many people lived in me
And through me —
Strangers, acquaintances
People I’d read
Some stayed for days
Others — for years

Their minds and thoughts
Their stories and ideas
Became a lens —
Became my own hands
My feet, my tongue

I was impressionable —
Easily swayed, naive
There was space inside me —
Space I didn’t know how to fill
So people moved in — rent free
Unaware
They were living in me

But not now
Everyone’s been evicted
Some, I had to give notice
Now —
No one thinks they live in me

There’s space inside again —
And I’ll keep it
Clear
Empty
Free

It’s enough —
That sometimes
My father lives through me —
But I know it
As soon as he does

My mother —
She really
Already
Is me