I’d like to have many hearts to offer you, like hand-made biscuits of several shapes and tastes.

I’d lie them down on the kitchen table, for you to choose one each morning.

Comes sun or rain, there will always be a leftover heart, misshapen, unwanted, neglected, to keep you alive.

Russell Hemmell is an alien from Mintaka snuggled into a (consenting) human host. His recent fiction has been published on Aurealis, The Grievous Angel, New Myths, and elsewhere. See more at earthianhivemind.net.