Good Heart tells the reader what it means to have a "good heart" with all fantasies left aside. Keenan shows the reality of what a "good heart" must do to survive in the vast landscape of society, friends, and family. Kennan says, "I admit an extraordinary number of human flaws and frailties into the text -claim the ragged journey that only sometimes leads to wisdom, and too often to harsh judgement, sorrow, losses. Because I am an autobiographical, and lyric, and narrative poet, each of my books carries my personal history, and the strands of cultural and political history forward. The poems in Good Heart were written to honor some endings in my life--the end of two extremely important friendships, the end of my mom's healthy years, the end of plundering my dad's tragic choices. I wanted to reflect on, and honor and, sum up, some personal and cultural history."