Image courtesy of Grey's Anatomy
The Heimlich Maneuver
My heart is in my throat and it won’t go back down
I feel like I’m going to choke, throw up, and this leaves me
broken. With nowhere to go and no air to breathe
my legs are beginning to quiver beneath me
I want to run and escape, away
from my anxiety, and into your embrace
your gracious touch
Any other limbs around my waist could not expel the muscle
lodged in my esophagus, pumping blood into my mouth.
I can taste it, can’t concentrate. Vertigo fills my eyes
and my head could be sweeping the floor. It could
be scraping, bumping against the peaked, white
ceiling, but instead it wavers, and wobbles over-full
in the middle of the universe
Only you could hold me just so
and I am yearning
just to touch you again. I want to feel your skin
and know that what that middle-aged malcontent said isn’t true
God forbid I ever leave you wanting in the appearances
of my absolute love for you. Strike me down
if I ever leave you in doubt
You who so often make my heart leap from my chest
into the word, and the action, and the song, come home
to me. Your face is etched into the bone of my skull
‘though your hands are not around my middle
I could be peering into your soul, as you save me
from the lie that I was told. Heave my heart into the open
and help me to move on.