Claustrophobia | Bonnie Burka Shannon
They’re closing in
From the right
From the left
The top and
The bottom
Those I know
Those the
World identifies
I cannot breathe
From their rhetoric
Their combat
What have
I done
What have
We done
I am compressed
Nearly demolished
Fighting back
Is fruitless
There are too many
Of them
I hyperventilate
Feeling as if
My imaginary oxygen mask
Is dysfunctional
Like the world
Around me
Where to run
Where to hide
Is this the beginning
Of the end
Or is the end
Here already
Let me breathe
Please
Stand back
And let me breathe