chessboard
with cloth bits standing-in
for its long-
lost rooks
and a couple of quarters
kept in the box
expressly for use
in place
of horses—
or, like a
library book
with a few pages missing
which, mercifully does not
seem to decrease
your affinity for characters
or apprehension
of plot—
so too
can a heart
still be jury-rigged
to work
even after a few
of its parts were
snatched out.