Tag: breathing

in-out (20170205)

crow

it’s getting crowded in here again
not the people
not the obligations
but all that breathing
that sucking up the air
how will there be enough
for all of us
and by us i mean
me and the cat
who sleeps curled in my lap
making my thighs sweat
with black and white heat

the tension in my shoulders
in my neck
a block of iron
i won’t need a supplement
for that but
maybe they make little air pills
oxygen bars used to be
a mockable thing

christ, whatever modern music
they’re playing on the radio
sounds like a cross between
west side story
and a kabuki play
and it’s squeezing my lungs
like a manic accordion player

i will plug my ears
and open the window
i will share the air
sharing is caring
or so the dinosaurs said
and who am i to disagree
with the former rulers
of the earth?

the art of breathing deeply (20170111)

crow10 Comments

you take a deep breath
outside after the rain
realize how much better off
you are
not breathing that
recirculated air
from your colleagues
with their
i-swear-i’m-not-contagious
phlegmy brachial spasms

but out here
the closest people
are a couple of high school girls
a football field away
that smell like candy
when they pass
and they could give a shit
about the wheels turning
in your head

so the thought settles in
we are all stardust
not in a magical
we’re-all-special-snowflakes way
or even a
my-god-we’re-so-insignificant way
but just this just this
just
this
you could be breathing
in an atom of air
once breathed out
by abraham lincoln
hammurabi or adolph hitler

even the heavy panting of
some prehistoric saber-toothed cat
looking to make a meal out of the
hominids

we are all complicit in that
decay and triumph and violence
who needs little crackers
and plastic shot glasses
of grape juice to claim communion
we are all breathing it in
good and bad
but jesus
what are we adding to the atmosphere

Poem 20150827

crow

there have been times
when i have watched you
while you sleep
watched the rise and fall
of your breath

sometimes
you part your lips
when your eyes are closed
and your breath escapes
and i breathe in the same air
and exhale the same air
and you breathe me in
and we mingle

there have been times
when you have dreamed
that i have had
the same dream
and i cursed the alarm
when it sounded

Poem 20150301

crow

tell me something
you’ve never told
another person

something
you don’t want
anyone else to know
but don’t want me to repeat
but something you need me know

something that binds us together

one person

i’m looking out
through your eyes
when i wake up
i’m breathing
with your mouth
when i say your name
it’s your skin that i feel
when i touch you
your heart beating
in my chest