Tie Me To The Kite String But Don’t Let Me Go

This poem is part of a special Mental Health collaborative series by the Saloon For Writers on Facebook.

You can find more of the poems from this series here. Poem 1 by Oredolapo A Roberts | Poem 2 by Angela Derscha | Poem 3 by Sofia Duarte | Poem 5 by Talia Devora

Sometimes it’s the getting used to the empty

The empty space beside

The empty space inside

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Sometimes it’s the lack of touch

To acknowledge my existence

To avoid the sensation of floating

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Floating by

Floating away

Far far away

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Sometimes it all goes by

Blink of an eye

Time passes without the need to try

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And where am I then

Somewhere new or

Still stuck in the sand

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Maybe it’s the tingling sensation

The confirmation of presence

At least there’s something to feel

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So I trace the edges of my teeth

Tongue tracing corners

Looking for more than decay

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Just suffocate me with sage

So I may cleanse the numbness

and breathe a little lighter tomorrow

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Sometimes we can be surrounded by people and still feel lonely. Sometimes we can be both lonely and alone at the same time. I wrote this poem shortly after my great grandmother passed. There were also 3 newborn deaths in the community I live in. It was a time of loneliness and being alone. My fiancé was physically still in another country, and as much as technology brings us together- sometimes you just feel so far away.

It’s important to make space for these feelings, to help start processing. It’s how we begin to become grounded, so we don’t float too far away.