A breath that lasts a hundred years in, out takes little from the air in, out unless it makes new lungs in, out which then make two in, out and them two each in, out then look up what exponential means in, out as the air runs out in, out.
About the Poem
“The world population has almost tripled in my lifetime and, despite scientific assurances, doesn’t look like it’s abating any time soon. It makes you feel so small and powerless to make any kind of difference other than not adding to the problem. I never made a conscious choice not to have children – the thought of having them never even occurred to me – and the older I’ve become, the more grateful I am for that. As a species we’re doing a pretty lousy job of looking after this planet.”
With an MA in Fine Art, Helen Finney spent her adult life working as a fine artist in South Wales. Having been unexpectedly stuck in Thailand during the pandemic, she turned to her second love – writing. Still there several years on, her work has been published in Ink, Sweat and Tears, Poetry Wales, Dreich Mag, Morecambe Poetry Festival Anthology I & II, Gyroscope Review and elsewhere. Her fourth collection was released last summer and a collection entitled ‘Positively Childless’ should be available later this year.