I gently washed my breakthrough.
Blood drained out. Colour faded.
Every single cell dissolved away, becoming
the architectural skeleton of a heart.
Every single cell dissolved away—
put up no fight, no rejection,
no more life of drugs needed.
Perfect.
Every single cell
waiting, waiting, waiting to become
“the most important medical breakthrough of our lifetime”:
the architectural skeleton of a heart.
Beating with no fight.
—Kat Dornian, 2026
Over the last two years I’ve been writing poetry about sickness, health, ghosts, and air. When I saw this 2023 article about scientists creating a “ghost heart,” I decided to make found poetry with it. The preceding poem, “Every Single Cell Dissolved Away,” is what emerged.
This summer, I’m doing a submission blitz of my poems. Stay tuned for more writing and, hopefully, some publications!
Reference:
Taylor, D. (10 August 2023). “Lab‑grown ‘ghost hearts’ work to solve organ transplant shortage by combining a cleaned‑out pig heart with a patient’s own stem cells.” The Conversation. https://doi.org/10.64628/AAI.cht5fsv9p
Kat Dornian 