Heart to Heart

“Heart to Heart” begins through negation or describing what the heart is not: “It’s neither red / nor sweet” (Lines 1-2). Immediately, the speaker rejects these ideas as misconceptions and continues, “It doesn’t melt / or turn over, / break or harden” (Lines 3-5). Playing with the concept of cliché, the speaker claims that such figurative descriptions do not apply; all this distinct diction (“melt” [Line 3], “break” [Line 5], “harden” [Line 5]) is related to clichés or colloquialisms about the heart. However, by looking at the heart through the lens of biology—ultimately the lens of the literal—the heart is anatomical and can do none of these things.

“Heart to Heart” is a poem built on reasoning. As the speaker tries to understand the heart and its workings, the first stanza is a conditional statement: If the heart cannot do any of these metaphorical things, then “it can’t feel / pain, / yearning, / regret” (Lines 6-9). Through logic, the speaker claims that the heart is merely an unfeeling muscle: The first stanza inaugurates a staunch, unyielding literalism that will carry to Line 16.

Line 10 continues this list of description by way of negation, stating “It doesn’t have / a tip to spin on, / it isn’t even shapely” (Lines 10-13). Here, the speaker comments on the shape of the heart. The lines “It doesn’t have / a tip to spin on” (Lines 10-11) reference the conventional pictogram of a heart (as seen on a deck of cards), which has a point at the bottom. Furthering their rebuttal, the speaker describes the anatomical heart, which “isn’t even shapely— / just a thick clutch of muscle, / lopsided” (Lines 14-16). This is the first moment which the speaker clearly defines the heart (rather than defining what the heart is not). It is merely a muscle that is “lopsided, / mute” (Lines 16-17).

There is then a dramatic shift with the word “Still” (Line 17), at which point, the speaker enters the poem with the personal “I,” a more intimate perspective and proclamation of what they personally feel (not just think): “Still, / I feel it inside / its cage sounding / a dull tattoo: / I want, I want—” (Lines 17-21). These lines indicate that the heart is more than muscle; it carries personal desires. Here, the shift is not only dramatic but manifold: There is a shift in voice (the personal “I”); a shift in tone with some movement away from rigidity (signified by the qualifier “Still” [Line 17]); a shift from expressing thought to expressing emotions; and, most glaringly, a shift into metaphorical language despite the preamble ostensibly refuting such symbolic thought. “[C]age” (Line 19) refers to the ribcage, and while “cage” may be an abbreviation of the anatomical name, it is predominantly a metaphor for confinement. Moreover, a “dull tattoo” connotes a musical instrument.

Even with this quiet epiphany, the speaker’s heart remains within this “cage” (Line 19), and this entrapment of the heart and its true longing is a source of frustration and sadness for the speaker: “but I can’t open it: / there’s no key” (Lines 22-23). Still using this metaphorical language, the speaker expresses that there is something the heart desires, but they have no way of understanding (or naming) what this is. Despite having superficially debunked a symbolic treatment of the heart, the speaker now talks of the heart only as symbolic heart—i.e., a feeling heart. When they further list the impossibilities of figurative clichés, it is only to emphasize a blockade to that feeling: “I can’t wear it / on my sleeve, / or tell you from / the bottom of it / how I feel” (Lines 24-28).

Because the speaker’s metaphorical heart is caged and locked, they cannot directly observe it. In the final lines, the tone of the poem shifts from seeking to define and describe the heart to resignation. “Here” (Line 28), the speaker offers, “it’s all yours, now—” (Line 29), as though they have given up trying to explain their heart or even understand it. The poem concludes with the ambiguous lines, “but you’ll have / to take me, / too” (Lines 30-32). The speaker gives the heart to the “you” (Lines 29-30) but then qualifies this gift with the metaphorical concept that a heart really is more than just a muscle; it comes with wants, even if those wants are entrapped, and a person can still feel “pain, / yearning, / regret” (Line 7-9). These very emotions—earlier discredited—are what the speaker feels in the final lines of the poem, handing their mute heart over.

“Heart to Heart” is a complex poem drawing heavily on metaphor and cliché. The poem deals with two hearts: the anatomical heart that keeps one alive, and the metaphorical, abstract heart that is rooted in feeling. More than that, the two hearts in the poem are further complicated by the final lines in which the speaker introduces a second person (a “you” [Lines 29-30]). The two hearts in the poem are, therefore, the metaphorical and physical heart, and the heart of the speaker and the heart of the “you” (Line 29-30). The poem’s title thus carries a threefold significance: literal heart to metaphorical heart; one person’s heart to another person’s; and the figurative phrase “heart-to-heart,” meaning a candid or intimate conversation.