Mslexia

Mslexia, the magazine for women who write | www.mslexia.co.uk

New Writing

Are you in a humour to be interviewed today?
I am a little melancholic from your questions.
Will you be long?
No. We will begin.
Tell me of your discovery Mr. Harvey?
I am a fine anatomist – I felt my knife
slicing and sliding and perceived that
blood must flow in such a way.
The first glimpse of the heart was so full
of red that I was astonished at the
distribution of the vessels and veins.
So intricately were they inserted
within the flesh that I was stung
into a suspicion of the heart as
being the centre of production.
An extraordinarily observant Physician.
But forgotten. Un-named.
Why is that do you think?
I shattered myths and cast out ignorance.
The heart is but a Mechanical Pump
of red with no wonder to it.
And for that you were forgotten?
Those of a romantic turn – named
the heart as the castle of love.
But my anatomist’s eyes were
astounded by the heart’s pure
quality of containment.
You stole the heart from the world of romance. Pause.
Was that fair Mr. Harvey?
You castigate me then for circulating
truth in opposition to ignorance?
No. For calling the heart a mechanical.

MARY COOKSON is a part-time secretary in a firm of accountants and spends between 10 and 15 hours per week working on her writing. She has three poems in The Southport Visitor and also in the university magazine. She has an MA in Creative Writing, and finds comments on work from the course invaluable. When the computer isn’t on she uses anything to hand to write – even lipstick. She’s a fan of medieval history, and loves poetry and music that close her ears to the world. She worries that her fingers are going to grow into keys and that she’ll be rechristened Mary Keyhands…

This story has been selected from the Mslexia archive. For the latest on the writing world, publishing and creativity subscribe now. To sample more Mslexia features or to find out about the latest issue click here.