“Ode to My Father’s Failed Heart” by Maya Phillips (poetry ’17)
An excerpt from “Ode to My Father’s Failed Heart” by Maya Phillips (poetry ’17), selected by Rita Dove and published by The New York Times Magazine.
Ode to My Father’s Failed Heart
It’s okay. I, too, have failed
at the expected, have sputtered
and choked like a rusty valve
in water, have jumped into the pool
only to sink. Little engine, your flawed
machinery is nothing like love. You limp
at last call to the dance floor,
but feel no shame
[…continue reading “Ode to My Father’s Failed Heart” at The New York Times Magazine.]
