I...
am having trouble breathing,
I'm gasping for breath and heaving up a nightmare where...
no one can hear me
I am standing on a cliff and the only thing that I can see around me is the colors red, white, and blue melting and turning into oil...
and these little rats are coming up from holes underground and they are drinking this oil and pissing on the soil that feeds them.
And I have nowhere to go
They see me and they smile...
these rats, they can actually smile.
I...
am having trouble breathing,
I'm gasping for breath and heaving up a nightmare where...
no one can hear me
I start to get dizzy and I start to loose my balance and I start to, no, I am falling and I'm screaming...
Then I realize that the word help does not pass over my lips but is replaced by justice, JUSTICE, JUSTICE, I keep screaming all the while in my mind I am scheming a way to avoid those rats once I hit the ground.
but something breaks my fall...
some kind of constitution.
I...
am having trouble breathing,
I'm gasping for breath and heaving up a nightmare where...
no one can hear me
This beautiful thing that broke my fall surely cannot let me down, it seems so strong to me and this has to be what will save me...
But then it starts to crack and the rats are coming, and they are carrying skulls wrapped in turbans, and their mouths are dripping in blood and this blood is falling to the ground and spelling words of hate...
and I stare amazed
I...
am having trouble breathing,
I'm gasping for breath and heaving up a nightmare where...
no one can hear me
I am frozen in terror unable to move when I feel a tug from a little girl on my shirt,
I turn to look at her and she speaks but in a language not like my own, but I understand her, I understand her so well that she brings tears to my eyes with three little words she cries "Please protect me."
but I am unworthy
I...
I cannot breath,
I am gasping for breath trying to heave up this nighmare where...
NO ONE HEARS ME
I grab the girl and we start to run as fast as we can passing deserts and I realize that we are intruders on foreign land,
I need to get this little girl out of here because she trusts me and I am letting her down and I have to save her and we keep running and these rats are following me and then I see it,
something in the distance that spells a word called freedom,
and I know in my heart that this is the only thing that will save this little girl, I have to get her there, we have to get there as fast as we can
but there's quicksand
and now we are sinking
and I..
cannot breath
I am gasping for air stuck in this nightmare
and no one hears me.
Author notes
Written June 2nd, 2006
In a list
A contest entry
- Give me your best for 2000 points by Hadji Murad.
1887 points, ended December 7, 2006, 97 entries
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest
What did you think
Comments
1 - 6 of 6
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Bravo, very capturing!!
I like it a lot, it really got me into the story.
Well done. -
Amazing
I love it! You are amazing!!!! -
Wow
That poem made me stare at the screen with dazzlement. -
Thanks for your comment, the little girl actually represents the children that have died in Iraq. It's funny that you mentioned poetry readings, I am actually hosting a reading at the coffee house that I work at and I am reading this one. I'm excited about it, it's the first time that I will be hosting a reading so it should be fun. Thanks again for the comment, talk to you later,
Chauna -
WOW Chauna! I normally read the poems from here aloud, and this one reads vivid and clear and profound throughout...It's a poem that really should be read as a performance piece if you are involved in any live poetry readings. Not only is it a powerful political statement, but it would make such an impact in a live reading.
As far as the "little girl" figure in the poem, I may be all wrong, but by the fear to the anger expressed in the poem, I somehow saw this figure as yourself for some reason. I don't know if that's whom the figure was to represent, but it did feel that way in my read.
really great writing! You haven't popped up with a new one in a while, but when you did it really was WOW!!!
Jo -
"They see me and they smile...
these rats, they can actually smile."
great line.
"the word help does not pass over my lips but is replaced by justice, JUSTICE, JUSTICE"
I loved that one too, very powerful.
There are so many great themes in this poem I can't possibly point out everything I loved about it. This was just amazing.
one question: What does the little girl represent? She strikes me as a symbol, but I can't figure out for what.
although leaving that as a mystery adds something to the poem too : )
anyway fantastic work.
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