Breathe

Breathe

Breathe - A deep mournful sigh

A new day begins, a fresh start

The air is thick with promise!

I am enveloped with insecurity

My mind ventures to places of uncertainty

Emotions flood within, I am overwhelmed

Breathe - It’s all in my head

Sleepless nights rattle me

My head reels from afflicted chaos

One more choked breath

My mind goes a mile a minute

I just need quiet

Breathe - I’m suffocated by the pressure

Life’s challenges and ambiguity disconcert my peace

I feel alone

Questions surround me

Nothingness consumes me

I am an unknown abyss

Breathe - A sensation of floating steals me

I could never return; people would not notice

The insignificance of my being is realized

I must brush it off before I disappear completely!

Reviews

[Marc Marlon Villaflor]

This is a wonderful piece, really comes from the heart. I can feel the honestly of this poem and the reality which harsh in real life, how people wanted to control in others affair. I love the breathe themes here, it is very remarkable and brilliant piece. Stunning structure. Thanks for sharing my friend.

[Kelsey O'Connell]

Wow, thank you so much!

[emipoemi]

..............
..............

That is the sound of speechlessness. Even in Free Verse are you amazing! This is powerful, fluid, and profound! Well constructed, and expertly expertly executed. Well freaking done! Much enjoyed!

[revalatia]

I like this one! I relate with the feeling of overpowering emotions and stress.

[Kelsey O'Connell]

Im glad you could relate, thanks for the review :)

[Holly Mason]

I write somethings just for myself and others I share
this is very open and honest
breathe a moment of quiet
thank you for sharing

[Kelsey O'Connell]

Thank you for reading and commenting :)

[James Hanna-Magill]

Dear Kelsey O'Connell

You never cease to amaze me!

I read profiles and author's notes before I read pieces.

But I never ever read anyone else's review.

I am really not interested in what they have to say, however right or wrong, praising or damning.

I am only interested in what you have to say to me and how I as one reader feel about it.

Your profile?

"It's better to write for yourself and have no public, than to write for the public and have no self"

I entirely agree.

You write and have a self.

You focus on that in this piece and I am listening to your words ever so carefully.

I am not going to do a structured review on this piece.

I am just going to tell you how I react as a reader.

However you may be a 17 year old woman from your part of the world and I a 53 year old man from another; whatever our differences, it never ceases to amaze me how all of us are in the end the same.

At times when I wake up these days, perhaps because of my illness, my brain starts to go into overload and search for what is right or what is wrong.

What did happen yesterday and what will happen today?

You express my own insecurities so well through your own:

"I am enveloped with insecurity
My mind ventures to places of uncertainty
Emotions flood within, I am overwhelmed"

The world often overwhelms me, in much the same way as it can underwhelm.

You say:

"Breathe - I’m suffocated by the pressure
Life’s challenges and ambiguity disconcert my peace
I feel alone"

My reaction?

At times as you effectively repeat, I can't breathe either.

The world can be all pressure. I just feel alone. I feel marginalised by society.

Is it that you are shy because you are young or is it because I am older and disillusioned at times?

And so you say:

'I just need quiet'

So do I at times. My head feels so full it is as if it is about to burst!

And you say:

'I feel alone'

So do I at times. Maybe that is the way I have felt all my life.

And you say:

'I am an unknown abyss'

Some days, I do not know whether I am coming or going. Do I understand myself?

Does anyone understand me?

I'm not sure at times anymore than you are.

And so you conclude:

'I must brush it off before I disappear completely!'

Yes.

Like you, there are days I feel so vulnerable, I just have to get up quickly and have a cup of coffee to allay all the insecurity and fear to make sure I remember what reality is and to survive.

Kelsey O'Connell?

There is a maturity and honesty about your poetry which extends beyond your years, mine or anyone else's.

I assure you maturity is not owned by the older.

Sometimes it can only be seen by us all through the eyes of the younger.

And in this case yours.

I do so love reading your poetry.

I always leave reading you thinking 'Yes I have just witnessed something well written.'

But above all I leave it thinking, 'I have just been brushed by the soul of someone who has something to teach me even at 53.'

You write well Kelsey O'Connell.

"It's better to write for yourself and have no public, than to write for the public and have no self"

Kelsey, the joy is you have a self and you have a public.

You have me as a public and if I am at all self-aware, you now have everyone else's ear too.

Believe in yourself.

I believe in you.

Your friend


James Hanna-Magill