Breathe...

Thoughts from an asthma sufferer

I have suffered from asthma all my life. I have vivid memories of being rushed to emergency and receiving adrenaline injections to help subside particularly bad attacks. It did not help that in Trinidad in the 70s and 80s there was no regulation on vehicles and their emissions. It did not help that every year from May to August the sugar cane was burnt as part of the preparation for processing and ash flooded into homes.

It was only later in life that I learned all the triggers for my asthmatic attacks and was able to manage it better. This would not have been possible without my doctor sending me for a full workup. Thankfully, it’s one of the benefits of our precious Canadian healthcare system. This poem was written after one of these attacks.

BREATHE

Cough cough 
 Hack 
Wheeze

Someone help me breathe please. 
This disease is sucking my life 
Quick stick me with a knife

Hack hack 
Wheeze 
Cough

Someone help me I've had enough 
I'm fighting for every breath 
Some days I even pray for death

Wheeze wheeze 
Cough 
Hack 

I've got another asthma attack 
This asthma makes me suffocate
I better go and medicate

Bio: Brian Sankarsingh is a Trinidadian-born Canadian immigrant who moved to Canada in the 1980s. He describes himself as an accidental poet, with a passion for advocacy and a penchant for prose, an unapologetic style, he offers his poetry as social and political commentary.