Breathe
Breathe
You say that like it’s easy
Don’t you know every breath hurts
A knife piercing through my chest
Breathe
Shut up! The room is spinning.
I can hear my heartbeat in my ears
Like a hammer against my ribcage.
Breathe
Get out of here with that.
My thoughts are zooming so fast
crashing like racing go-karts.
Breathe
They tell you to ground yourself
But don’t tell me to use my senses
They are fried raw from the nerves
Breathe
Say that again and see what happens,
If you want to help right now, stop.
Sit, and exist with me, please.
That’s all I need.
Stop telling me to breathe.
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▾ This Poem's Voice
Your Poem's Voice
Deeply personal anxiety/panic attack experience, minimally abstract.
Multiple compressed ideas: pain, overwhelm, rejection of coping, plea for presence.
Strongly negative: suffering, frustration, desperation throughout.
Explosive language: knife, hammer, crashing, spinning, fried raw.
Approximately 22-24 lines; falls in 16-30 range.
Rich similes and metaphors: knife, hammer, go-karts, fried nerves.
Pure lyric internal monologue with direct address; no narrative or dramatic persona.
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