*May 09 2026 | Things To Do (Heart) by Jordie Albiston

This week's poem becomes a moderator choice, since I haven't heard back from Greg unfortunately. Hope he is okay.

I thought to choose something quite recent.
This poem is written by my favourite contemporary Australian poet. I adore the way she plays with form, language and is not afraid to experiment with it. A lot of her writing comes across as playful and sassy but always with something much deeper sitting just below the surface. I hope you enjoy:

Things to do (Heart)
By Jordie Albiston

Published 12 September 2023
https://redroompoetry.org/poets/jordie-albiston/Thingstodoheart-1/

a. Find heart, and place hand upon it. b. Time
to metronome beat. c. Empty above of all
things earthly. d. Fill with compassion. e. Sleep. f.
Remove heart while comatose, and g. wrap
in secondary skin. h. Attend to uncontrolled

weeping. i. Inject with childhood whims. j.
Apply usual pressures. k. Induce another few
beats. l. Install restraints against sudden death
flights of fancy and similar feats. m. Dream
the dream of green things rising through cracks

in the heart’s veneer. n. Stir slightly. o. Open
one valve. p. Put back to sleep again. q. Attach
block and tackle for (possible) messy escape.
r. Invite intelligence in. s. Stitch up anything
that gapes. t. Arrange wordly affairs in good

order, alphabetically and from one to ten. u.
Inform media of intentions. v. Alert next-of-kin.
w. Insert telegraph pole for long-distance out
- of-town friends. x. Put heart back in. y. Press
All Systems Go. z. Let your black ravens sing.

Upon first reading, your characterisation is spot-on: whimsical on the surface, and something weightier just below. Not menacing but somber.

Utterly new name to me, appreciate you sharing in this group!

>1 TonjaE: I've been thinking about this poem for a bit now. It reads as a guide to fix the soul or the create the perfect one, with the appropriate dose of "childhood whims" and the flights of suicidal fancy restrained, and the desperate loneliness of long-distance friendships resolved. Now that I think about it, is strikes me as very similar to 'Fitter Happier' by Radiohead (https://youtu.be/O4SzvsMFaek?si=iC8Phw_9W14GqQtR), but with a more optimistic tone, one in which the heart's user still lets"(their) black ravens sing.".

I love love the line "Dream the dream of green things rising through cracks/ in the heart's veneer." It seems to say that all this instruction can't prevent the nature growths that build inside the heart and pierce its surface, that we can't protect our hearts from the world, no matter how hard we try. But these growths seem not parasitic or weedy, but organic and beautiful, maybe just through the slant rhyme of 'green' and dream'.