Underwater Breathing Poem by Quincey Burkhalter

I am
Trading the life
Of underwater breathing
Struggle
Challenge
Ecstasy of clear water
The color in memory
Coral reefs of bright remembrance
Trading the life
Of underwater breathing
For that of standing out in a crowd
I want to believe
What most deem as uncertainty
Is it really crazy
To want to touch the sun?
I can be me
And still stand like a flag in the wind

I have had my memory
Before my eyes for too long
Like the glare of light
Under my eyelids
As I close my eyes
I have let it guide me
On path that lead back to my weakness
I am shattered by wind
Hard rain
Weakened by the sounds of thunder

No longer am I the branch captured in time
By frozen wind
I am no longer a redundancy
A repetition of vowel sounds
Until I have nothing left to say

I am full and broad like
The hull of a battleship
Not hurried but waiting in the waters
For an enemy that threatens daily
My enemy’s breath is that of stagnation
The smell of a coat left in a closet
For too many years
This enemy is in my ocean
Below the water of consciousness