two held breaths

 two held breaths

1.

sometimes

you need to slide in a sinus forceps

slowly   ever       so    slowly 

into the loin of a poem

open the prongs and let the pus

a kidney dish (or two  maybe)

from a mind infected with turmoil

a draining of the cold fires

the exhalation of a held breath

pus somewhere

pus nowhere

sub-phrenic

i heard that said

it had me in stitches 

gave me hiccups 

so i held my breath

2.

there is an ancient poem

that has carried a held breath

for ten thousand years

                    here take it

                    now 

                    close it

i have replaced the breath

ten thousand years made me gasp 

and i feel so ancient today

tomorrow is another day

they always say

                           but

ten thousand years

is a long time 

to hold a breath