Submit your work, meet writers and drop the ads. Become a member
 
 May 2015 Lottie Charman
-a
Are you alive? Or just breathing?
To judge whether I'm alive or just simply breathing is significant.
For seasons I've been heaving through corrupt lungs,
trying to find the little piece that will save me.
I've been breathing for as long as I can remember.
Maybe this drowning will subside and I can finally be alive.
Months have made me more alive.
Each day living and feeling everything. Alive feels so free and up lifting.

But here I am again.
Questioning in this very moment whether I'm alive or just breathing. And I think at this point I'm just trying to make my chest rise through the night.
It feels so good to be alive.
I just want to get back to the me that never had to remind myself to breathe.

I want it to be an automatic and harmonious inhale of life.

-a.
Is it possible to miss a persons chest?
The way it rises and falls with their breathing  and pulses with blood flow 

Letting you know they are alive, just as you are alive

And your timelines interconnect the way your breathing synchronizes 

You walk with your right foot forward and he trips over his foot to match your careful steps

You love to hear the rhythmic ebb and flow of whispered thoughts into your ear 

And on his chest your head is resting like the pillow you slept on last night except much more comfortable

The cold air outside gives him a chance to explore your arms and hands
and make you feel protected and loved
You feel home again even though the house you grew up in is only a block away

There’s this never ending warmth

That ignites your cold fingers with the heat of something more powerful than a comet

You do miss his chest

Your head-rest and peace

Of mind from this too-loud world

That doesn’t take a moment to hear a heartbeat
 May 2015 Lottie Charman
Tatiana
Air gets dragged painfully through my throat
as my body spasms from my violent coughs.
Now my throat is constricted
and my airways are inflamed,
there is hardly any room
for the oxygen to get through.

It's like breathing through a straw,
except there are little tiny knives inside of it
that dig into my airways as I inhale
and it hurts
it hurts so badly.

Then I feel it in my chest
as my lungs fill up with oxygen
they expand and this pain spreads like cold fire
burning me with each breath
and then leaving this icy feeling behind.

Then as I start to exhale
the fire burns stronger
and my heart is pounding
and my throat is closing
and the world starts to spin,
then the air finally leaves my body and I can relax.

Until I have to breathe in again,
and this cycle starts all over.
I'm okay, I am just kind of really sick though.
I feel the friends
I never quite knew
Helped me the most
But given the news
I don't care
I feel like ****
I lie on the floor
Get out of my way
I'm a waste
I wanna escape
And then I might know
I was afraid
I want more but it's far too boring to continue
 May 2015 Lottie Charman
Curtis
Inhale
Exhale
No thoughts just breathing
Inhale
Exhale
No regret just breathing
Inhale
No self pity just breathing
No worries about tomorrow just breathing
No thoughts of...
Oh, right
Exhale
Inhale
Exhale
Just breathing
Meditation, hard but rewarding
Sometimes to survive you need to be painstakingly emotionless
You need to bite your lip to hold the screams
Block it out
just Breathe

But beware the stories.


There's a mother who at 33 became a drunkard
and she had 3 lovers
and she loved none.
And Dad stopped loving
because it hurt too much to love
even his own son.
And the neighbour had to tell Tommy
he wasn't a brother anymore.
And that family
broke
at the core
           -wailing

And this kind of failing
the kind where each who lost
added to the cost
only to push themselves further under: it makes me wonder
How long can I deceive myself?
to pretend that it's all good
Told my mind
Just breathe it out.
and We'll be as We Should


There's a brother
I've been told
Who sold his body for less than gold
and he is RIDICULED
His Father Beats Him
and his darkness deepens
But his 12 year old sister hallucinates:
redemption as his fate
But his story held a choice
it was Him or Her
and his voice pleaded
that he should be the one
so she might have freedom
and they agreed
Now at night, while she's Dreaming
he's Screaming

That boy said to me
that he holds a dream
of a sister still clean
which means to him
That he's worth something still
and the nights can be bared
as long as she never knows
his type of scared
And this has me bawling
and clawing for air.
And my lungs fight for life
just to get there.


There's a father
with a wishful life
with cheerful children
and a gentle wife
And he's a Grandma's Boy
well, that's all he had left
and at her death
he's pitiful, on the ground
gasping for breath
Now he lives in FEAR
of the loneliness returning
that devoured him as a little boy
for years
So now he's running, so afraid of what's coming
that the path back is lost
and he never
recognizes
the cost

and I feel tears when I watch him chatter with his family
because it's always a bonding moment of one on one
but if you look around, there's absolutely none
And I've started to feel lonely
when it's only me
but I remind myself: you can't go down that road
and you won't
if you can just Breathe.


There's a sister
with a child born out of wedlock
and she's felt fury
from her loved ones
Because of this Situation
Even Though
she resisted *******
And she just wants to find some love
so she protects that baby with everything that counts
and every ounce of resistance she has left
And She Will Keep Every Cry Inside
until that child arrives
and starts screeching
and she's shrieking
until that baby's tired eyes fall asleep
and she can enter her own weary zone
but she goes to deep

I'm having trouble processing
this story ending
because I've heard that beginnings are a beautiful thing
but this child won't even have
a mother to sing
to her at night
so How is she supposed to stop screaming?
and with this knowledge
How am I supposed to find meaning?

And I know

I know

I know there's good


And I know that pain can't win
so long as we hold it in


Breathe in
and out
and in
out
in
out

But Sometimes


I can't Breathe.

and that's when I bellow
right before the never-ending screams
I'm not suggesting giving up, but I want recognition for those who feel the burden of every story and weight they hear.
 May 2015 Lottie Charman
Josie
Just breathe, he said
It will all work out
But I have no money or friends
and I am full of doubt

Just breathe, she said
It can't be all that bad
But why does no one want to hire me?
I hope it's not because I'm old and sad

Just breathe, he said
And drink some wine
You'll see, everything will be fine

Just breathe, in and out
It will remove all doubt

But what will I do when
the only reason for breathing
was you?
I cry because I cry because I 
don't have a valid reason to cry anymore.
Next page