Measured in Exhales

Feeling different than all my peers in this,
Struggles of a left-handed lyricist,
Smudges on my fist from dragging it,
Even worse when I was gripping it.

Audacity to worship myself — intrinsic,
But a little introspection shows that’s illogic,
Blessings of a curse — I’m gifted,
Writing backwards in my notebooks
so this spiral isn’t on my wrist.

I was never trying to court looks,
Left-handed, right-brain dominant — that’s the hook.
Access to the creative — that’s what they saying,
Semantics is the silly game they playing,
Theatrics? something I’m not entertaining.

Sunday morning poetry, caffeine-stained pages,
Words bleed slow like faith through the ages.
Ink runs thick with the weight of confession,
Left hand steady but I’m righ(wri)ting aggression.
Each line’s a prayer for the battles I missed,
And the mirror just nods like “you exist.”




The nerve of me just now emerging the,
Idea to treat life like an emergency,
Beyond time to start living urgently,
Like I got spares of these — apparently.

Most of y’all ain’t even heard of me,
That’s on me — I let space grow, let it breathe.
But time to batten these hatches,
Before I’m hatching more insanity — matches.

Staring blankly at my vanity,
Wishing I didn’t have to smash oxygen to breathe.

Curse the carbon coming out of me,
If I could resist the urge to breathe.
My leader wouldn’t feel guilt or need,
While he jets off to Davos, debating when I get to breathe.

Am I worthy to be,
Way down below their ivory towers’ gleam?
They sip power while I grind in the seams,
Life measured in rations while they measure in dreams.




They measure our life in exhales,
Too many outs and you tip the scales.
Pay no attention to the private jet on the triple beam,
It’s just an illusion to make it seem
Like giving up everything wouldn’t change a damn thing.

They need you to live a less fulfilled life than you do,
So the crew that I’m bringing up has carte blanche too.
Really, whatever the hell they want to pursue,
“Just you mind you, and I’ll mind you too…”

And when they’re done, they’ll squeeze all the oxygen out of you.

Pause. Take a step.
F*** all of y’all — I’m a go ahead and take this breath.