DRAMATIC MONOLOGUE Poem: TO BREATHE IS TO ACHE, by Faith Dombrowski

A large breath is pushed out of me
I am just trying to be alive
To inhale and exhale
Laugh and to walk
But i’m not sure if i’m doing it right
Everything I bite into is rotten
No one believes but it’s true
To felt loved is not to deny the inevitable
But it is to stare in the eyes and say its name
What good is a woman if she cannot perform?
If she is not loving and kind
What good is a friend if there is a wretched coldness in place of her heart
What good is a lover when she locks you out at signs of need
I cannot go on
I wake up I work I come home I sleep
There is an awful taste in my mouth
and it is spreading to my face
and everyone has noticed
The people around me they say there is something there now
It wasn’t there before
How do I even begin to explain
The aching exhaustion of blinking
breathing
staying alive
And if I have mistaken you then I apologize
but this is no dramatic ordeal
There will be cries out loud for help
There will be no displays of agony
Simply a head that cannot be lifted
A sky that cannot be cleared
Does that make sense now?

Author: poetryfest

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