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Cover Art

Heart Valve Lyrics by Richard Siken

I Do Know Some Things

2023

Every evening at 5:00 pm, the third wife would raise a bottle of liquor above her head and yell Ding-dong! It was five o’clock somewhere and somewhere was here. She was the kind of person who had heavy, brown ceramic mugs shaped like Moai on hand at her homemade makeshift outdoor bar; the kind of person who garnished drinks with fruit chunks and paper umbrellas; the kind that stocked the cabinets with pineapple juicе, grenadine, and apricot schnapps. And now she was dеad. The woman who put tiny, decorative, shell-shaped soaps in the bathrooms when company came over was dead, and she had left us alone with our father. She had been pulling the tubes out of her arms for several days, screaming I’m no longer beautiful let me die. They put the tubes back in each time, of course, but soon enough she went under and was gone. Without her, our father was difficult to wrangle. He was a complicated man. The rules were different. He had a bad heart valve, which made it difficult for his heart to pump, but he also had anemia, which thinned his blood and kept him alive. Cancer was keeping my father alive. He still said, You’re an abomination, but I could deflect him more easily now. I know, dad, but would you like half a sandwich? It was enough to change the subject. He wanted to keep living in the house, so he did. And since I was living in the guesthouse and helping out, he reinherited me. Everything was fine until the night I came home and found him in the living room, stuck in an Eames chair. He had been stuck for hours. The next day we started visiting assisted living facilities. My brother left New York to help. He moved into the house with me. I had already claimed the master bedroom with the Jacuzzi and walk-in closet, the glassed-in gym, and the side patio; he took the office, maid’s room, dining room, and library. He turned the office into his studio. I made a studio in the garage, under the guest house. We shared the kitchen and the pool. Our father had a single room at assisted living, but it was large. We brought over furnishings from the house. It was a strange edit, a condensed personality. Now he had comrades. He charmed the ladies in the dining room. He met a woman who had also been a lawyer and they started sneaking into each other’s rooms at night. They held hands at lunch. They took naps together and listened to books on tape. I think it was the first time he had actually fallen in love. She managed to stay alive for seven months. After she died, he moved to hospice. He was angry and extraordinarily sad, and it had done him in. I did not visit him, he wanted to spent the time with the other son. It was the right decision. He wanted to be buried and not cremated. My brother bought him a new suit and new shoes, selected a casket. The executor said the suit was a waste of money. The rest of the formalities had already been decided. We carried out his wishes as instructed. His lawyer made sure we did.
Credits
Richard Siken

Richard Siken

About “Heart Valve” by Richard Siken

Read the complete lyrics to "Heart Valve" by Richard Siken from the album "I Do Know Some Things" in 2023. On Lyrks you can follow along with the full text, explore the artist's discography, and discover related songs. The track is often categorized under Poetry, Non-Music.

"Heart Valve" is performed by Richard Siken. from the album "I Do Know Some Things" in 2023 This page provides the full lyric text for fans who want to sing along, study the songwriting, or compare versions across releases. Lyrks organizes lyrics by artist and song slug so you can bookmark and share a stable URL. Music lyrics help listeners connect with emotion, narrative, and rhythm in a track. Whether you are learning English, researching a favorite chorus, or preparing for karaoke, having accurate line breaks and section labels (verse, chorus, bridge) makes the experience easier. We link to the official artist profile on Lyrks where available, including biography snippets, top songs, and chart placements when we have that data. If you enjoy "Heart Valve", explore more songs by Richard Siken using the links below. Chart and trending pages on Lyrks highlight what listeners are searching for this week. For copyright or correction requests, see our DMCA and contact pages.

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Frequently asked questions

"Heart Valve" is credited to Richard Siken. Songwriting credits may include additional writers listed on the release; check the credits section on this page for linked collaborators.

"Heart Valve" appears on "I Do Know Some Things" in 2023.

Visit the Richard Siken artist page at /artist/richard-siken for biography, popular tracks, and links to more lyric pages.