I cried oceans of tears.
And now I’m drowning.
Nobody sees me.
And now I’m shouting,
Because I am barely visible,
Oh, the right word is I am invisible.
I am completely under the water.
And my eyes can’t see anything.
My mind is in chaos.
Because it is crowded with many things.
Why can’t they hear me?
It’s so blue here,
I’m reaching for this liquid,
But my hands can’t touch it, as it’s so clear.
Do they even miss me?
I don’t think they do.
Because they won’t even have noticed me.
Drowning in this pool.
It’s completely dark here.
My lungs are filled with this water.
Now that I have stopped breathing,
so I can stop my heart from to shatter.
My body might now be pale and blue,
Just like the water,
I am now part of this sea.
The sea creatures have adapted to me.
Noticed me
Even though I was invisible
Because for the people outside this sea,
I was barely visible.
It’s lonelier to grieve.
Because I knew you.
Because I loved you.
Because I still do.
And now I carry that love
Like a body that won’t stop breathing.
I cry for the life you didn’t live.
For the mornings you missed.
For the years I still imagine even though
I know better.
I cry because I saw you becoming
And then I saw you stop.
I drown in thought.
Not memory
That would mean you were here.
I drown in the future I built around you.
The one you never asked for
But I gave you anyway.
You were supposed to stay.
You were supposed to grow old.
I grieve the man you never got to be.
The one I still talk to in my head when I’m scared
Or tired
Or pretending I’m fine.
I grieve the version of me
Who would’ve loved you longer.
Who would’ve learned how to forgive you for leaving.
I hate the silence. It sounds like you.
I hate the quiet. It feels like you.
I hate the way I still wait for something
that isn’t coming.
You are gone.
But you are everywhere.
In the things I can’t say.
In the breath I hold.
In the way I keep living
Like it means something.
~~~
If I was any more relaxed, I would be melting
others are scrambling today
there are graduations all over the state
I am sitting in the shade with my two dogs
there is a bee overhead, she appears to be black
probably because I am staring into the sun
I keep seeing her fat shadow
In the distance I hear a twittering robin
If I felt like struggling, I could hear a truck or car
the guy next door just dropped something big
It must have been substantial, sounded like a two by four
This is the country
Our houses are three football fields apart
there is a whistle type whoop
another songbird
answering chirp
these fowl may be plotting my death
but I am too relaxed to care
the person she was at eight a.m. did not recognize her three p.m. self
She had thrown away two or three “I will never's" that day
transmogrifying herself into a willing flexible chameleon
no one else noticed, which amused her slightly but lightly
Part of herself wanted to scream her new truth, but she was shy
Her muse took the helm and wrote about it, but who read it? No one.
Notice me! She was screaming silently from the inside
Self-absorbed, no one offered her time or attention.
Wait! Hope walked into the room, in the form of her old boyfriend, Roy.
He caught her eye, and then her hand. She felt like a fly trapped.
You are more beautiful than ever! He told her. His smile was crooked.
He looked delighted with her; she knew it was the alcohol speaking.
She had completely transmogrified herself since he left her.
Did not bother to share her changes though, he was clearly not interested.
She searched his face, wondering who he was seeing.
the person she was a few minutes ago, barely recognized herself.
And the hearse did rehearse its path,
Though the skeleton held dearly
To his ground, smiling loud.
He was bare - needed a shroud,
With his straight bow, grinned severely.
For it seems, he’ll not move ever.
There’s his calcified stick figure,
Who’s not shamed in the least.
For on earth, his time’s increased.
Seems he’s stuck in mortis-rigor.
Man weds cockroach in church ceremony
Guests munch on freshly grilled abalone
Pastor upholds his sworn duty
Lectures bride and groom on infidelity
Barely two months into marriage
Tiny baby cockroach appears in a carriage
Headlines shout out the bad news
Seems Mrs. Cockroach was groped and abused
Minister contacted Planned Parenthood
Lacking precedent, post-full-term abortion approved
almost thirty
barely grown
spent my twenties
learning bones
how they break
how they heal
how to tell
what pain is real
thought by now
i'd have it right
feet planted firm
my future bright
but the mirror shows
the same old face
chasing dreams
at the same old pace
bills stack high
the years fly fast
my childhood echoes
in the past
yet somehow i think
of that kid inside
who fears the dark
but he swears he’ll try
almost thirty
still unsure
measuring life
in less and more
less of doubt
more of trust
less of can't
more of must
learning that growing’s
not a rush
green chiffon prom dresses for my identical twin and myself
Spent most of the summer of seventy, not on a hanger or shelf
First there was prom, but then we were in a wedding or two
Ending up being bridesmaids for brides we barely knew
This is what happens when everyone wants twins in their wedding
Those green chiffon dresses we barely were shedding
We finally started offering to share the dresses with others
No. They want identical twins too, said the brides' insistent mothers.
I gardened all day
so exhaustion would set in
It worked too, but fast....
Do I have time to post my poems on a website?
I doubt that I have the capability.
My eyes are barely keeping open.
You barely know me
You make lots of assumptions
You never listen
The title said it all…
Thank you very much
Left an unanswered call
All alone and such…
I’m reaching to the top so tall
I loved you to the cold-hearted touch
Catch me I make an abashing freefall
I discarded you…you deserted me too and left me a torn-apart heart with a crutch
Danger zone,
Alone,
Descending beneath the surface,
barely
Below you and I
Before I make a go
The title says it all
The title nailed it to the cross of my forgiven sins in appall
I still will stand tall
Through it all…all…
Get back on the ball…
The title…says it all…(laughs maniatically and frantically falls on my face, laughing harder than ever)…whatever, I’m seeing all ablur
Santa is humming as he checks over his list next to the snow.
What song is that? Asks Blixen, who truly does not know.
Not sure, Dancer answers, but this year we do not have to go.
We are going Dancer and Prancer informed them, even if we are slow.
We are too old, argues Blixen, and Comet falls into place too.
Let’s let the young reindeer have a chance; like that youngster Phew.
We will slow down Santa, I can barely fly two hundred and two.
Santa says “Come on, fellows, you have more good years in you.”
So the original reindeer get ready for another worldly trip.
They fly fast and furiously, like a well-honed rocket ship.
When they return home, they have cookies and a tiny sip.
Of egg nog and liquor, and Blixen does a happy upside down flip.
The Second Year of Barely Breathing
David J Walker
When can we breathe again
exhaling the dust
Of a long-lost day
Safe from the safe distance
Look them in the eye and pray a prayer
Of resistance to the unknown God of goodbye
Our Father
If we ever
get to sit together
again
hear our prayers of common fears
A faceless family of mannequins
Dropped in for a taste of pain
A faithful student of mandolin music
Dropped in from a soaking rain
Our Father
If we ever
Leave the house
again
hear our prayers of preservation
from a death we did not plan
Barely escaped
as a bear
chased me down the hall
my eyes wide open
for the rest
of the night
Bearing my soul
to the roar
of laughter…
seemed
uproariously serious
in the depths
of R.E.M.
10/6/2021
We are identical twins
believing in none of the same things
as alike as a tennis shoe is to a tyrannosaurus rex’s jawbone
We used to play and laugh
We had a silent laugh that creeped out the rest of the family
It could last for a month or two at a time
But then one of us grew up, and moved away.
Became a political being, whereas the other one
does not remember half the time which one is a donkey
We are identical twins
who used to have a mother and father
who kept us together, in the same car, at the same church
We used to be together on so many things
Before I realized there are other religions and other languages
And before my twin forgot who she was and became a social media stirrer of trouble.
We barely speak now
When we do we are careful
She professes to hate liberals, and I am the most liberal liberal I know.
Luckily, I also know that she does not know what a liberal is.
Some people do not have to know what “they are” in order to despise them.
Sub Categories
Looking for the formal definition, structure, and history of this poetry form? Visit the Poetry Dictionary entry below. Then return to explore how PoetrySoup members bring the form to life through their own poems.