Pay Attention, My Heart

Carole Greenfield

My beautiful student from Israel, long blond curls snaking
down her back, living vines that rise, soundless in dry winter
air, dark eyes sudden sparkles when she understands
my words, crackles like static electricity in my classroom,
shocking students every time they touch the metal, tells me
the word for heart in Hebrew has two meanings.   To pay
attention is also to see why you wake up, she says. 
You can see what you are, what you are going to. 
And also a normal heart. 

I thought what I desired was to live quiet-hearted,
find my way back to balance, step off that carousel
rollercoaster of impossible attractions – truly, I said it,
thought that I meant it but lately I'm starting to wonder
whenever I stand by my window looking down at the playground,
watching the “spinny thing” whirl children, some screaming,
some laughing, hanging on for dear life, letting their legs fly up
and out behind them like geese, like the swans they will all
one day painfully become.

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Carole Greenfield
Carole Greenfield grew up in Colombia and resides in New England, where she teaches multilingual learners at a public elementary school. Her work has appeared in Glacial Hills Review, The Plentitudes, Pulsebeat Poetry Journal and others.