Breathing ( poetry challenge – essential )
Breathing is pretty essential and scary when you can’t
I was a sickly child,
it hung beneath my eyes
turned the mirror grey
always breathing.
A bronchial battering
spun under control
by inhalers that popped
and whizzed powder down my tubes,
always pounding.
Violet had an ice-cream van,
our dog used to bite the tyres
it smelled of sprinkles and sherbet,
and I knew how he felt.
“They make your chest bad,
stupid lad”
and they did every time I could.
Friends forgot my name
soup and orange segments,
watching wash days in the rain
breathing deep into my stomach
words too short to talk or be excited.
The rise and fall of a candlewick bedspread,
an aqua blue ocean to drift on.
No one seemed to notice or care
about the clumps of white dog-hair
and that I was left to play,
in a house with a habit
of nearly forty a day,
always breathing.
How the environment can affect a child who has breathing problems is clearly illustrated in this poem, Keith.
Much appreciated, sorry so late with my comments, must catch up as I’ve fallen behind quite a bit 🙁
I think this is much undervalued by the lack of comments. Please accept my nomination.
Mike
Hi Mike, things are starting to pick up again, sometimes you’ve just got to trust that the serum will work. Many thanks thanks for the Nom I really appreciate that. Stay strong Keith
Again some very telling phrases in this, Keith. Quite a moving poem. Mike’s right, there should be more people commenting. Sorry I didn’t get round to reading this earlier.
Cheers,
Gerald
Hey Gerald, you are way ahead of me, but I’m back on the case, “Blind” looks a good one for the next challenge so that should be interesting. Thanks for your comments Keith