Starvation Pt. 2

You hold so much more power
than you know
over my trembling strawberry heart.
When you offer it words,
it beats in time, rhythmic pulses.
But when you disappear
it beats itself
hurling its limp body around
crying out to be fed like a thin-ribbed puppy
until all that’s left
are the slightest of twitches
and the memories
of the letters once whispered in my ears