everything is so thick
so heavy
weighs down on a rapidly beating chest

slow down,

slow down.

please dear god just stop.

make it all stop.

lift the dense air which collects in the core,
raise the anchor:
stop.

Inhale,
push hard against shackled lungs
push
reach
trembling hands, push for it,
exhale with ease,
perhaps it is defeat...
there is no more room for thick air,
to congeal in your lungs,
to deconstruct the very simplicity,
reveal the complexity.

take a breath of heavy air,
and drown in it.
the price of breathing is to breathe no more.