Tin Woodman

[my_pigpen_account]

His heart wasn't a quick fix
every tear turned him closer to rust.

My mom had cast a spell on him,
for her he chopped off his legs
his arms
his head
and split his torso in two.

He said "you're too skinny, and your face is like paper,
you look like you're dead
and I think you scare people,
because you look them in the eye and you don't smile."

I said "at least I still have my self,
you're like an etch-a-sketch, always shaking yourself up
and starting over."
But the point was lost on him,
there was nothing for it to sink into.

Then one day, he lost his oil can and froze for a year,
and when he was free, he threw away his job, his family, his savings
and went to Missouri to find a new heart.

I could have told him it was a mistake.
He should rip it out
he should have stayed frozen.
What good is a heart
when you don't know what to do with it?