Poem by Simone Inez Harriman

[Simone Harriman]

This poem is unpublished.

The Steampunk Heart

Deep inside a convoluted portal, 

my iron pericardium departs. 

Hornpipes blowing and piston rods pumping, 

as cave walls release a grieving clans heart. 

Drifting timelessly in mindful plasma, 

through metaphysical doors and mazes. 

I taste black clots of Tyrian purple

and weigh blood-soaked hearts of gladiators. 

Through wormholes of war, I delve in sorrow.

Power grinds gears; cogs mesh with savagery. 

In camps of death, I measure mass murder

and know human spirit and dignity. 

Following a trajectory of love, 

poets whisper through my armoured septum

Hatches open, flames rage, and rockets soar

as brass sprockets spin with wild abandon  

Deep in the dark web of dastardly deeds, 

decrypting onion layered deception. 

Steam screams through riveted aortic seams 

exsanguinating blood of barbarism. 

Derailed by explosions of emotion. 

I sink into black holes of depression, 

Questioning man's worthiness and purpose  

knowing emptiness and separation. 

Fibrillating through time, deprived of sleep. 

Somnambulistic from analysis, 

my gauges switch gears to resuscitate 

Homo sapiens heart in extremis. 

Simone Inez Harriman