Ode to My Liver
by Sravanthi Dama

Oh liver, you poor bulbous mass
Of brown and pale green.

You sleep in my body
Resting next to my engorged tummy,
Full of the slimy green bile
That keeps us alive.

You are always neglected
By the writers of today
They choose to wax poetically
Over hearts instead.

But liver, you are our unsung hero.

You are scarred
As much as I am full of lard.
Every time I ate my feelings
Be it, in vats of ice-cream
Or bouts of incessant drinking,
Your bile salts went to work tirelessly
Broke down every bit
Of garbage that I consumed, fearlessly.

And after all of that!
You went and did the unthinkable
Filtered my blood!
Without my asking.

Our precious little cardiac sacs
Would NEVER
Deal with all our high-fat snacks.
Its delicate little arteries
Would get clogged up.
And then what would we be left with?
A godforsaken heart attack!

But liver, you will never let me down.
The only organ that I
Will forever count on.
Crusader for clean blood.
Marauder of fats and crud.

Liver, you understand my agony
In all its totality.
Full of impalpable stoicism.
Functional til the end.

Liver, you truly are
A girl’s best friend