Free Verse

Life Below the Line

March 22, 2018

How do I cope with the scope of

My desperation:

Sights set on life, ending survival,

The machinations

Of hope? or just a revival

Of respiration?

They tell me, "It's easy. Just breathe."

As if my head's above water.

Titanic burdens are making it harder

To swim for the surface,

When surest of verses

Are siren calls. Curse this!

This madness,

This Spartanic dredge odyssey!

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If you or someone you know is struggling, you are not alone.

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▾ This Poem's Voice

Personal desperation and struggle, grounded in speaker's internal state.

Dense, rapid-fire questions and clauses; multiple ideas compressed tightly.

Overwhelmingly negative: desperation, drowning, madness, curses dominate.

Explosive, frantic pacing; exclamations, punctuation, staccato phrases drive intensity.

13 lines; falls in 7-15 range.

Rich metaphors: drowning, Titanic, siren calls, odyssey; extended water imagery.

Pure lyric interior monologue; direct first-person emotional disclosure.

▸ Artist Match

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