the heart is a muscle born

from lightning

that’s why when we were struck

we survived

the sky squeezed shut 

when I told you

I wanted you 

to love me like a worn-out

stuffed animal

throw some dirt

on my heart

rub it in let it disintegrate

into wet ropes

in a washing machine 

my doctor told me 

my heart murmurs

I don’t know

what it’s trying to tell me

you were quiet

before the downpour 

you were once in a lifetime

like a gunshot to my head

now my heart is milky

and slippery

my heart is slick

morning grass

opaque sea glass 

my heart is off 

its rhythm  

it wants to hum

over my head with the electrical wires 

what we had 

was once in a lifetime don’t you think? 

did you feel the static

before the strike 

or was that just me?  we were 

once in a lifetime like every cloud

falling down 

in gray tatters  

ephemera floating

through the air

settling on the dead 

prairie like snow. 

---

Alyssa Froehling is a poet from the Midwest. She received her MFA from Ohio State in 2021 and her poems appear in Black Warrior Review, Puerto Del Sol, The Pinch, and elsewhere. Currently, she is an Assistant Poetry Editor of Sundog Lit and lives in Madison, WI with her partner and her dog, Duckie.