The Heart’s Content is a Poetry Anthology released in 2010 featuring Poetry for a Good Cause from such talented writers as Chris Ransick, poet laureate of Denver, and Michael Henry, founder of the Lighthouse Writer’s Workshop in Denver.  For a complete TOC Click Here.

All proceeds from the sell of The Heart’s Content go to Hypoplastic Right Hearts to further the mission of informing, inspiring, and supporting the families of children with the world’s most common and most lethal birth defect.

While you can order The Heart’s Content on Lulu, I have about 24 copies left from our reading in 2010, contact me through Ask Amanda if you would like to purchase a copy for $12.50 (includes free shipping).

Here is one of my poems from the epilogue of The Heart’s Content.

QUIET NIGHT AT HOME

Death, the elephant in our living room,

sulks in the corner; hisses to our son,

“Come, boy, sit on my lap.”

But Liam is running,

he breezes past Death and shouts,

“Zoom, Zoom, Zoom!”

With arms outstretched, he is an airplane,

soaring across the infinite skies

of a two-year-old’s imagination,

gliding, zooming, exuding life,

until his half-heart whispers,

“Liam, land the plane.”

Our boy crashes between us

gasps, pants, draws up

and clings to each breath.

Liam’s lungs claw to compensate

for the absent ventricle, the missing piece.

Finally, he rests silent in my arms.

Even as systems settle and cyanosis fades,

Death skulks near us again,

creeping as he always does

when he thinks he’ll have his turn.

Our boy slaps Death’s bony hand,

laughs into liftoff . . .

“Zoom, Zoom, Zoom!” *

* Published in The Clark Street Review, 2006.