Why Shouldn't We?

Poem of the Week

Why Shouldn’t We?

there will be those
like me 
who keep finding 
the dead ends 
of this living world 

there will be those
like me
who know the feeling
of keeping a trapped animal 
alive in their hearts-
you can only live
by fight or flight 
never both 

a human body 
has limits
and some people 
carry pain and sorrow 
like a modern Atlas
you can see it
behind their forced smiles
and in the way
their eyes
are always looking 
for an escape route 

this is to those
like me 
that sometimes 
see no other way out 
that find no other relief 
from the constant 
crushing sorrow 
of an exact same 
tomorrow

light one more cigarette 
finish your morning tea
let the dogs out
smoke the good weed
in the bright smile
of another mischievous sunrise 

wait one more minute 
think a few more thoughts 
scan the quiet horizon 
go the extra mile 
one more time -
even a condemned man
gets a last meal
one more appeal 
and a chance 
to say some final words 

why shouldn’t we?

©️Dan Denton 2023

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It’s not a secret that I have struggled with mental health and suicidal ideation most every day of my adult life. I am grateful that on 90% of those days, I can quickly dismiss the thoughts as absurd, but there are other times, like now, where it becomes daily hand-to-hand combat. I’ve written many poems about that, and they are almost always the poems that readers react to the strongest.

A few years back, I read and fell in love with Gwendolyn Brooks’ poem “To the Young That Want to Die.” Brooks is one of America’s greatest poets, and I love her work, and this poem is fantastic (will include a link,) but it is obvious to me that the poem is written from the point of a well meaning human that hasn’t struggled with suicide much. There is nothing wrong with that. It’s still beautiful, but the platitudes included are almost always ineffective in the heat of the battle, so that one poem challenged me to write poetry that can connect and be effective at reaching those that suffer like I do. Sometimes, I’ve even been successful at it, and the poem I shared today is one of the ones that others, who are like me, have cried over. If you know what it is like to “go the extra mile/ one more time,” I love you and I understand. But let’s both do it anyway.

Here is a link to Gwendolyn Brooks' beautiful poem.

Ps. If you are ever speaking with a suicidal human, no matter how trivial you think their issues are, never, never refer to them as peskiness. Never, never downplay their hurt. Doing that is the opposite of helping.

Here is a recent sunset photo I took the other day, in the tippy top most corner of Northwest Ohio.

Hope you’re well. Let’s keep trudging those extra miles. We are worth the effort.

Love,

Dan