G.R. Melvin writes

BREATHING  EXERCISES

I.
She won’t roll away & not watch me.

Y’see, I won’t seem to take…

When I dream (or wake),

To take another breath before

The scene fades, before

Lights go up,

Then down to more of a zoom.

She waits in our bedroom for me to resume.

.

II.

We went to a yoga class.

Where a barefooted, hair-pleated group leader,

Beautiful, and calmer than a

Merciful last coma,

Insisted that our deep breath is

The gist of all of it (within, & out).

We rearrange the short & tall of it.

The gist to change the depth, see,

Of our sea of possibility.

When we inhale

We re-memorize our own gods.

We exhale our hell. barefoot. on a mat.

Whew. To that.

.

III.

When I get to go to the Gulf of Mexico

I’ll try out the drink, 1st thing.

I’ll try not to think when I try to let go

& sink when I deadman’s float all day,

Into what I think of as a spiritual drift, in a way.

I’ll hold onto my own breath,

Face down,

Head down.

Summer Family Vacation -- Warren Keating