{"id":1377,"date":"2016-09-09T08:48:58","date_gmt":"2016-09-09T12:48:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/labyrinth\/2014-2015\/?p=1377"},"modified":"2016-09-09T08:48:58","modified_gmt":"2016-09-09T12:48:58","slug":"air-or-the-lack-thereof-by-madeline-waldhoff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/labyrinth\/air-or-the-lack-thereof-by-madeline-waldhoff\/","title":{"rendered":"Air, or the Lack Thereof by Madeline Waldhoff"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>i do not understand breathing<br \/>\nwhy something so essential<br \/>\nso necessary for our life<br \/>\nsometimes stops<br \/>\nwhy, upon seeing a glorious view<br \/>\npicturesque, striking:<br \/>\na painting of a trillion colors<br \/>\nred and golden brown<br \/>\ngreen, yellow, magenta;<br \/>\na boy, his jawline sharp<br \/>\nhis eyes like burning coals<br \/>\nhis hair so soft<br \/>\n(and i just want to touch it,<br \/>\ntouch him);<br \/>\na girl, her skin all pinks and browns and<br \/>\nlacking in nothing<br \/>\nher eyes like stars in the summer sky<\/p>\n<p>her smile sunlight<br \/>\n(and she lets me touch it<br \/>\nbut she does not let me worship her)<br \/>\nshe keeps me at arm\u2019s length<br \/>\nand my breath stops when she walks in the room<br \/>\nand i do not think she comprehends<\/p>\n<p>i do not understand breathing<br \/>\nand why it is said to be so simple<br \/>\n\u201ci\u2019m good for one thing only,<br \/>\nand that is taking breath\u201d<br \/>\nwhat if i am not?<br \/>\nwhat if my heart leaps in my chest<br \/>\nand the air catches in my lungs?<br \/>\nwhat if the mere sight of beauty is too much<br \/>\nand i fall to the ground<br \/>\nwhat then am i good for<br \/>\nif i cannot even draw in air?<\/p>\n<p>i do not understand breathing<br \/>\nhow my lungs move up and down<br \/>\nand each inhale<br \/>\nexhale, inhale<br \/>\nexhale<br \/>\nlets me push sound through my mouth<br \/>\nand thoughts through my brain<br \/>\nand words onto paper.<br \/>\nand if every lump in my throat<br \/>\nmakes my head spin<br \/>\nand my chest hurt<br \/>\nwhy then is something<br \/>\n\u201cas simple as taking breath\u201d<\/p>\n<p>i do not understand breathing<br \/>\nwhy am i yet incapable?<br \/>\nit\u2019s something so innate<br \/>\nthat even a child<br \/>\nan infant<br \/>\nrosy-cheeked,<br \/>\nfresh faced and fresh from the womb<br \/>\nlets out a screaming cry<br \/>\nwhen the doctors slap his buttox<br \/>\n(and who blames him?<br \/>\nwhom who has experienced<br \/>\nthe joys and evils of this mortal realm<br \/>\nand can yet say with certainty<br \/>\n\u201cit is better to have left the safety<br \/>\nof my mother\u2019s warm body\u201d?<br \/>\nwho can say, with a smile<br \/>\nand no hint of anger<br \/>\nno self-doubts<br \/>\nno denial<br \/>\nthat something is<br \/>\n\u201cas natural as breathing\u201d<br \/>\nwhen people die every day<br \/>\nwithout air)<\/p>\n<p>and others suffer an interior death<br \/>\nas they lose their breath yet again<br \/>\nanother lovely face<br \/>\nanother heart-wrenching poem<br \/>\nanother breath-taking sight<br \/>\nwhy is breathing so essential for life<br \/>\nif everything around me takes my breath away?<br \/>\ni do not understand breathing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>i do not understand breathing why something so essential so necessary for our life sometimes stops why, upon seeing a<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/labyrinth\/air-or-the-lack-thereof-by-madeline-waldhoff\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Air, or the Lack Thereof by Madeline Waldhoff<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1377","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/labyrinth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1377","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/labyrinth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/labyrinth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/labyrinth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/labyrinth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1377"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/labyrinth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1377\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1378,"href":"http:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/labyrinth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1377\/revisions\/1378"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/labyrinth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1377"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/labyrinth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1377"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/labyrinth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1377"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}