Almost a Heart

By Ann Lauinger

---

Today is The Hunter’s last Valentine’s Day.
Let the record show how
eight decades of sweet talk and banter 
are lavished tonight on The Parcae, 
three kindly, hygienic females who sponge
and diaper, tucking him in, fluttering out.
They’ll be back soon with the shears.

Let the record show the lifelong Hunt
for pubis or bum, desire’s rude triangles, 
almost a heart.

This is the house The Hunter built. Let the record show 
The Three-Cornered Home for The Wife, 
The Girlfriend he cheated on The Wife with,
and The Other Girlfriend he cheated on
The Cheating-on-The-Wife Girlfriend with.
Note the separate studio for that ever-popular 
girl group, The Incidentals.

Let the record show The Hunter is still beloved.
Taped to the blank TV screen,
item, one hand-made valentine (from artist girl-friend)
item, one comic valentine (from witty girl-friend).
Perched on the narrow white bed,
item, one daughter.

The Hunter whimpers without waking,
I want my mommy. Is love,
that ruthless, that simple?
Let the record show.

---

---

Ann Lauinger’s three books are Dime Saint, Nickel Devil (Broadstone Books, 2022), Against Butterflies (Little Red Tree, 2013), and Persuasions of Fall (U. of Utah, 2004), which won the Agha Shahid Ali Prize. Poems have appeared in journals such as The Cumberland River Review, Georgia Review, Parnassus, Smartish Pace, and Southern Poetry Review; in anthologies including The Bedford Introduction to Literature; and on Poetry Daily and Verse Daily.

---

• Last Call / Submit by 02/14/2026 to Sonnet Boom: Love Poems for Miami, a poetry contest brought to you by SWWIM, Elevate Miami, and O, Miami. Youth and adult categories. Cash prizes. Free to enter. See Submittable for complete guidelines.

• 03/19 / Poetry Reading and Conversation with visiting poet-in-residence Sunni Brown Wilkinson & local poet Elizabeth Jacobson / The BBar at The Betsy-South Beach, Miami Beach, FL / Live and Live-Streamed on Instagram Live/Facebook Live at @swwimmiami / 7-8:30 pm EST / Free

• Are you looking for editorial feedback? SWWIM’s editors offer commentary on 3-6 pages of poetry. Submit here!

• SWWIM Every Day accepts poetry translations for publication consideration. Please see swwim.org/submit for the full guidelines.

• Are you a SWWIMmer with literary news to share (publication/feature/award/book/book review)? We’d love to shout out your accomplishments in our Weekly Spotlight! Please fill out this form with your news. (No DMs on any social media platforms, please.)

• Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter/X, and Bluesky for more updates—and visit our website to see past, present, and future readings & events.

---

**We do our best to preserve the integrity of each poem; however, due to programming limitations, some poems may read differently on a mobile phone and in certain browsers. For best viewing, use Chrome on a desktop/laptop.