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LOTTIE STEPHENS


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Breathing Underwater: A Poetry Anthology (2025)


Guilt 


All around is a lack of sound

except a pounding of pressure

that I drown out

But I keep going

down




At first I lost my voice to speak

But I could still always see

That mattered more to me

When you can’t hear anything

But your own heartbeat

I suppose I looked down at my feet.




They began to grow weary too

Stop trying to run

It was too slippery

And swimming was more fun

It got more cold

The further I sank

down

down.




Breathing got tough

I tried not to freak

But as I looked up from my toes

I could no longer see

my friends all around me

Or strangers or foes

There I was

solitary

submerged

left all alone.


Left all alone.