LEARNING TO BREATHE WHILE HOLDING HER BREATH
Small broom closet
Pepper thrown in
before the door closed.
Cinnamon toast
at age five
salt used instead of sugar.
Car speeding so fast that
when the driver turned right
the car spun in a complete circle
throwing her to the floor
where she stayed till they got home.
Only the elephant believed.
In the years to come
There would be chest pains
Like lightning slicing through
her breathing.
2 thoughts on "LEARNING TO BREATHE WHILE HOLDING HER BREATH"
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I lingered on this one a while…… trying to find even the slightest comfort in, at least, ‘only the elephant believed’….
I believe.
Elephants NEVER forget. This poem has some large tenderness tiptoeing through the trauma. I liked it.