What exactly do we mean when we say the heart is heavy? Is it our jumbled emotions that are enlarged into enormity, too complicated to lift, to bear? How do we understand the shape, the density, of sorrow?
And what about the light heart? How do we measure the change?–a heart that is nearly full enough to overflow—what space does it occupy, what is its texture?
It’s the heavy heart that is hollow. Brimming with emptiness. Weighed down by absence. The light heart grows gardens, wings.
the heart cleaves, wanders,
signifies inverse desires–
spring arrives, snowbound
I’ve accumulated quite a bit of Kick-About artwork that I haven’t given a proper post to. This heart drawing was my response to the drumming of Sandy Nelson. I also wanted to use Jane’s Oracle 2 words for the week, and the combination resulted in the accompanying haibun.
The drumming of Sandy Nelson reminded me of heartbeats which can careen wildly under different circumstances. When I looked online for images of hearts, I was attracted to the somewhat psychedelic MRI images. I wanted to work large, but even with 18 x 24 paper, I was unable to do justice to all the different elements of the heart. I made no layout, but just started drawing in the upper center with my colored pencils, a small section each day. So both the line quality and the proportions changed as I went on. Whole sections were expanded, compressed, and left out. Just like the trajectory of the drumming in my mind.
And just like our perceptions as filtered through our hearts.
K. 
I hadn’t thought of it like that before, but it’s true. I love the light heart growing gardens and wings. It’s exactly that.
I can see the heartbeats in the right hand section of the ‘heart’. I thought it was a woman dancing at first.
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Thanks Jane. I do see a woman dancing, now that you’ve brought my attention to it. Sometimes we don’t know what we’re making until after we’ve made it.
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You’ve done it now! Guess I mean to say – I like the stance your words are taking here. Good sentiment is worth saying, making plain. Good drawing too. thanks Kerfe.
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Thanks Neil. I’m glad it touched you.
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I love this, Kerfe. I also love the light heart growing gardens and wings, and like Jane I see a woman dancing. Well, why not? The spirit of love would dance.
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I did not see the dancer before, but she’s there! Thanks Merril.
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You’re very welcome.
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You’ve bathed the heart in qi’s light, Kerfe. It is beautiful. The heart is a study in irony. It is one of the simplest organs in the body, essentially a smooth muscle with a couple of valves; yet at the same time the center of our soul’s reason for living.
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We definitely need a healthy one to stay centered. Thanks Jade.
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You’re very welcome.
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This dichotomy of the heart, both heavy and light, is something we all experience yet never think to express, as if words could never do justice for either case, but you weigh one against the other so well, here.
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Thanks Ken. Jane’s words always spark interesting directions of thought.
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absolutely love this artistic reflection on our hearts … heavy or light, we all have one!
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We do! Thanks Kate.
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I was going to say that the image looked like a MRI – wonderful! The expanding and contracting is exactly what a heart does best so your artistry was mimicking the subject perfectly! Art and Haibun work so very well together!!! Love it!
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Thanks Muri. I had no idea that MRIs were so beautiful.
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I like how you set up the contrast between these two ‘states of heart.’ And your drawing is stunning!
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Thanks Ingrid. I don’t often do detailed drawings like thus but it was worth the effort.
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I love, love your artwork here and your musings, Kerfe. From my heart to yours. 💖
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Thank you Punam.
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Thought-provoking questions and commentary — the heart through which we feel and the heart as nourisher of the body’s physiology, strangely intertwined roles. Emotion and biology. And the drawing is a stunner.
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Thanks Aletha. This drawing took me a week, but it was worth it.
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