Life Keeps Happening

Florence Mango

The crabs bury and birds cry,

but they don’t know about the parasites,

the incest,

the illness above and below,

 

the way it never changes.

 

When a beaver builds a dam

and the water stops flowing,

he can rest.

Even among stillness,

I lay awake, I keep stumbling,

I still hear it flooding.

 

Life keeps happening,

and even on dry land, I drown 

in the arms of perseveration.

Perseveration, perseveration– a sinkhole where

everyone else can forgive

but I was never angry.

Water tastes so bitter in the lungs,

but only an angry person would spit it out.

 

I hold it down. 

I asphyxiate, I turn a fine shade of blue,

and the theory remains, that

life keeps happening.

  • Author: Florence Mango (Offline Offline)
  • Published: May 26th, 2022 18:07
  • Comment from author about the poem: Sometimes, you stop breathing, and it feels like a betrayal when the world doesn’t stop with you.
  • Category: Reflection
  • Views: 17
  • Users favorite of this poem: L. B. Mek
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Comments +

Comments2

  • Jonas Robinson

    Indeed, it does. Thank you for sharing. 🙂

  • L. B. Mek

    (thanks for sharing, such
    an impactful read
    your poetry, is full
    of such purposely, stark
    imagery
    and insightful commentary
    which helped inspire these words from me
    thank you!)
    respiratory, cyclicality
    is a good thing
    we breath, in
    and
    we breath, out..
    in between
    is our raging thoughts
    and bulldozing heartbeats
    but every once in a while
    we're gifted
    a stuttering, breath or two
    where
    be it by food
    'that's gone down the wrong hole'
    or
    'a gust of wind that catches us out'
    we immediately, experience
    that true, Physical
    asphyxiation, sensation
    and we begin, to squirm
    eyes reddening by the millisecond;
    our mouth, gasping like a fish
    flapping its desperate
    last dance of life;
    and fingers, aimlessly clutching
    at our throats
    and that betraying, air..
    All, in our fight
    for survival!
    for you See, however bleak
    our perception of Life, may be
    our Fear of losing it
    is DNA, innate
    and so reactively, in that moment
    we fight
    to keep it...
    'Life keeps happening'
    indeed!
    till, it doesn't
    and by then, sadly
    its too late, to fight
    or ponder or waste
    it...
    'if we be the lucky ones
    still breathing
    lets go about, our assumed
    duty
    of Living!'

    • Florence Mango

      This was such a beautiful read. I absolutely love your line, "However bleak our perception of life may be, our fear of losing it is DNA, innate, and so reactively, in that moment we fight to keep it." It's something many of us (myself included) seem to forget often; that we are made to fight for our lives, and that we always will, no matter the circumstance, no matter how often you may think you don't want to. When it all comes down to the wire, that's when we truly learn that persistence is built into us. Thank you so much for sharing!



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