"Black Heart"

What does it mean when the center is black, rotten?  When the lines of infection crawl from the center?  The figures cavorting about the heart suggest that the joy is there, still.  Are they summoning long dead affection?  Is there a feverish dream sequence depicted?  I have to confess that this image is not one of my favorites.  The figures seem to be archetypal;  they are doing expected things in expected ways.  And yet, until just this moment, I have not stopped to contemplate why the coven (my word) is worshiping the infection.  Maybe there is a deeper truth to be gleaned here: sometimes we chase that which is most unhealthy for us.  

I'm a puritan.  A grasper.  A Tracy Flick-like grinder.  There is no genius in me, merely a willingness to hold tight to what I want with both hands, and not let go.  I see so much talent and ability wasted because of inertia, laziness, a lust for just that one thing that is worst for us (echoes of "the best minds of my generation, starving, hysterical, naked").  I can be exhausting in my doggedness.  Others exhaust me when they dance around the infection, worship it, ignore that which is healthy and good just around the way.  What's wrong with trying to do the right thing?