I Demand A Reprieve

Life's challenges take their toll, sometimes we just need a minute to recollect...

Dearest loved ones,

After all this ensuing chaos

I demand a reprieve.

 

One singular moment

To let it all go,

And just breathe.

 

I’ve grown weary

Of this losing game we play,

I hate the way life strips me

Like an intoxicated fool

And leaves me hung up to dry;

Sucking on my life force

Like carnival cotton candy

From collapsed veins.

 

These morbid feelings

Are products, I’m sure,

Of life’s brutal seas;

Sometimes I swear,

She’s punishing me.

 

Slapping my face

With her cold hard fist

For nothing more,

Than wearing my heart

On my sleeve.

 

This bold badge of honor

Is worn front and center

Screaming to be seen;

A vivid splash of color

Providing a stark light of contrast

In an otherwise surgical world.

 

This heart was born strong

Each beat a life long refusal

To follow the norms set forth

By over synthesized rainbows

Designed to keep darkness out.

 

But even the brave of heart

Need the occasional break

From playing savior

To house and home.

 

A time to say,

This is what I want

This is what I need

To hell with all of you.

 

So with well rehearsed madness,

That will be sure to fool the masses

Get prepared

to hear me shout…

“Change the God damn channel!

I am so worn out.”

 

Author's Note

One of the stages of grief??? I hate being the only one of my friends who up to this point is the only one who has experienced death, it makes me the sudden expert on something that has no experts. As my best friend put it...it just sucks.

Reviews

[Angi]

Breathe, girl, breathe. Take that time out and don't be afraid to shout them all away. Sending good vibes your way. Angi~

[Astro]

I say, just turn off the TV, and go for a walk and look for a spot to sit silent. There is a reason for the saying "silence is golden" it's because no man or woman is richer that he/she that can afford time to be silent and reflect. I feel the madness, and fury like a bull that is tired of being ridden and kicks at the stall in protest. Very emotional indeed Kristin, fear not, we all experience death eventually and it spares no one.

[Kristin Lee]

I've experienced more than my fair share. And it's funny that you speak about silence and its golden virtue because by nature I am a very quiet person - usually the most quiet person in the room. And the man who just passed, was the only parental figure I've ever had in my life who told me that being quiet was okay. His kids even talked about that at his memorial. How he loved a good dirty joke, but appreciated the value of silence. So in this piece, "turning the god damn channel," means for everyone to do exactly as you said, and as I always do...shut up, disconnect and or listen, and get just let go for a while.

[Astro]

I'm glad I could see deep within your meaning. He sounds like he was a very nice man. Sorry you had to lose him.

[Rita L. Sev]

Excellent piece, Kristin. Being the one who has all emotional demands imposed on them is exhausting - but because it is emotional, you feel wrong to turn them away. At what point are we allowed to "change the channel" and get on with a comedy, or the news, or anything other than this drama that seems unending... Well done.

[Sami Khalil]

"A time to say,

This is what I want

This is what I need

To hell with all of you.



So with well rehearsed madness,

That will be sure to fool the masses"
Wow. This is a powerful piece of emotional writing that knocks your socks off but is so relatable in our daily life struggles. I hope things work out eventually ...Well penned as always...:)

[Jack...]

Grief, saddness, emptiness...they all mean the same thing...a weight on someone's shoulders. Every once in a while someone else needs to bear that weight and give the other a break. This was touching Kristin and heavy like grief itself. Very well done my friend.

[Frieda P]

I don't have to tell you how affecting this was for me, we come from that same place of grief, each word was like a knife cut, I felt this one, to my core Kristin.

'But even the brave of heart
Need the occasional break
From playing savior
To house and home.'

My sentiments exactly! Excellent my friend.

[John Alexander McFadyen]

OH Kirsten this is such a rich piece. I read every word and saw serious domestic/life strife and calamity about to ensue then you simply put me on the floor laughing so hard it hurt. Delightful! This can be read as a woman who waits hand and foot on her family having a blow out but all she simply wanted was to have her chance to watch a soap!

[jacob erin-cilberto]

i know this is about grief...but it is universal in the way you wrote it...because this i could relate to in a different way...

the idea of taking care of others so much so that they depend on us too much...and as much as we love them we get bled dry of giving...and feel we need a reprieve just to regather ourselves...

re-energize...

we get used up. "like carnival cotton candy/ from collapsed veins"

damn that is a good line..

also like the surgical part as well...

jacob