HeartAuthor(s): Brian HenrySource: The Iowa Review, Vol. 29, No. 2 (Fall, 1999), p. 103Published by: University of IowaStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20140369 .

Accessed: 17/06/2014 22:30

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

.

University of Iowa is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Iowa Review.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 188.72.126.108 on Tue, 17 Jun 2014 22:30:18 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Brian Henry

Vessel

Because another day brings to light what another day brings, the anchor gripped for a second then slipped and nothing of any consequence happened.

Because the motion must be constant,

because the motion subsumes all that comes in contact,

the idea of the ship slides, and, its function forgotten,

the day is no longer a ship but a vessel,

the descent undramatic, slow enough to go unnoticed by those unacquainted

with the art of the voyage, but this vessel is leaning, that shore no harbor to hope for.

Heart

That fixture

on which to hang a capsized vessel,

the wind nestled

in its ribs, an eel

picking through the remains

of those who did not survive

or lift to the surface

to hang there.

103

This content downloaded from 188.72.126.108 on Tue, 17 Jun 2014 22:30:18 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions