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Ocean, Knocking

As you open that door… you don’t know that there is an ocean behind it If you had to choose between feeling nothing and feeling everything, would you succumb to the flood? What if what you felt was more than most—if your body and mind becomes a single ravaged nerve for every throb of the world? When something scrapes the very soul of you, it does not bleed—it sobs, endlessly, until you forget what silence felt like. And a person like me avoids—craves—the numbness, the quiet. You try to be a small stream. Gentle. Contained. But the water always remembers its source. Before long, you’re a river cutting through your own heartbeat. And then—an ocean. No warning. Just electrically charged emotion, crashing against your chest, spilling out of your eyes, filling your mouth with salt and confession. And the only way to diminish it all is that you learn to shrink. To hold your breath longer each time. To become the shoreline. To diminish all the feelings… all the mess that washes up on the sand. To diminish yourself, deny yourself…. You tell yourself that less feeling means less breaking. But really, you are just boarding up the cracks, while the storm brews inside. And still, there are those who knock gently at the door—asking for small talk, asking if you’re okay, not realizing there’s an entire sea pushing against the frame.

Copyright © | Year Posted 2025




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Date: 4/17/2025 6:37:00 PM
The sensation of the hot swell pushing against the buckling frame of one's heart is powerful. That entire 3rd section displays the wisdom of your experience Laura. This is very mature poetry, clarifying with grace something we can all relate to, and learn from. High quality introspective poetry, not something easy to do...J.A.B.
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Laura Breidenthal
Date: 4/29/2025 1:50:00 AM
Hi, sweet Justin. This one was a very vulnerable piece to post, I felt. I appreciate your thoughts on it. In regard to the third stanza—The song lyrics from one of my favorite songs—Don’t Go by Rae Morris—came to mind: “Sun shines slowly and falls from your mind Falls from your mind Hope dies slowly, and falls from your eyes. Falls from your eyes…” <3 Laura

Book: Reflection on the Important Things