sufferance

i watched as he breathed in

maelstroms of impositions

into strained lungs and heavy hearts

that could no longer live in

deviance of everything they

knew they didn’t want to do.

but still did.

because resignation

was the only way they knew

how to keep breathing.

but sometimes i wonder

if that’s breathing at all.

if trading in the sanity

of our existence

for societal perceptions

of acceptance

really makes breathing easier.

or suffocates

us even more

within.

( faltering underneath

crippling expectations )

 

© Hudson Biko

Photograph: Mitchell Hollander