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      January 16, 2022TransplantElizabeth McMunn-Tetangco

      I guess the nice way
      to think about it is to say
       
      the pig was tissue paper,
      packed around the
       
      heart. It’s best to make
      it all seem
       
      clean. In the picture, the men pulled
       
      the whole red heart out through a hole
      in a green drape: underneath—
       
      what we don’t talk about, the soft hurt tender
      pink—and held above—
       
      the heart alone, like glitter stars. Nothing
       
      distasteful. It could be a Valentine, if you
      like that. You stole
       
      my heart.
       
      Of course a pig’s not tissue
      paper.
       
      Of course we have to
      make decisions.

      from Poets Respond

      Elizabeth McMunn-Tetangco

      “I don’t know what it is, but I’ve been really fascinated by the pig heart transplant story this week. It manages to be at once inspiring, terrifying, unsettling, and hopeful all at once, and new information keeps being reported. I think what I wanted to explore here was how complicated the whole issue is—there are so many layers, and I feel like many of these layers clash with our general desire to simplify everything into the most palatable version of itself. I’ve seen several photos included in news reports, but the one that stuck with me was the one with the heart over the drape—outside of either the pig or the recipient—waiting for its next life.”

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