We were writing poems at the same time on the same topic. Must be the psychic paging system. Again. The lines here about breathing remind me of a conversation I had today about breathing - conversation with a diver about encounters with sharks. He says that sharks can hear much better than he can under water - they can hear his breathing and heartbeat. Who, I wondered, tests shark hearing? I always read your poems as songs. Regarding the poem here: purposefully not look too hard: ouch.
Re the breathing, it was in my head because it's what I ask my daughter to do when she is in the midst of a crying fit. "relax, put your hands together and breathe with me," though it never seems to go that smoothly. Maybe I need a new approach? Thing is, I think I should take my own advice more often and perhaps that's where this poem comes in. As for the sharks, I'm not sure whose job it is to test their hearing, just glad it's not mine. -That said, I'm often shocked by the jobs people have when I meet them.purposefully not look too hard: ouch.
-Yeah, I thought the same thing after I wrote it.
though it never seems to go that smoothly. Maybe I need a new approach?
Maybe. My mother is a child and family therapist and she would say to just empathize and completely accept your daughter's feelings and she will calm herself down. Say, "You're feeling so sad [mad, upset, frustrated] when that happens. You wish ... -- whatever it is she wishes would happen."