New Heart

the Queen of Hearts lifted up her skirt
i saw the tattoos on her thighs -
a hundred names contained within red hearts
and choked by barbed wire.
in garters of UPC fingerprints
shaded to enhance her form,
and moving as she approached me,
seemed to pulse on her muscles stretched and sore-
the Queen of Hearts smoothed down her skirt
and glanced quickly at the sky,
past lashes that had seen utopias
and seen ideologies slowly die
suddenly she started laughing
as if remembering moments gone wrong
but it sounded more like a sampling-
like a background to a beat from some other song
the Queen of Hearts laced up her boots, i saw all 88 eyes
over pulled-on tights of black and white stripes
covering her scarred thighs
"my heart of hearts has been overrun by vanity
and true i learned, to love it
but the sky itself is taunting me
and i will rise above it."