it really is that deep

a poem i needed to write when i saw the 50th tiktok comment of the day from someone saying 'it is not that deep'

IT IS THAT DEEP

it’s not that deep, it’s not that deep
i hear it at least ten times a day
it's not that deep, but, you know—
what if it is?

           what if everything is that deep?

you say it’s not that deep but 
the earth keeps splitting 
right beneath your feet

you say it’s not that deep
and somewhere, a god blinks
leaves the room
never comes back

you walk towards the answer,
           just to move past it
                      turn your head 
                                 just to miss it
                                 just to say that 
                      you were right
           all along

it’s not that deep is a weapon
you shoot curiosity in the head 
with a full stop.
possibility and wonder perish
at the hands of your 
clean indifference

you ‘it’s not that deep’ yourself into a world
where the bodies of the dead are lying
on the shallow surface of your 
stoic, self-made puddle

           too afraid to get your ankles wet
           too afraid to see what might come out
           to touch you

but here’s your reminder:
a cuttlefish can dream in colour
a mushroom can connect an entire forest
in a place so deep you'll never see
the grass bends before the storm arrives

your sadness might be ancestral,
and still holy
the cave swallows your echo
           and sends it back as prayer

i mean, GOD—
do you not see the world trying its hardest,
just so you might notice?
just so you might stop and see
that flowers did not have to be so beautiful,
yet they are?

we were not built to be ironic
we were built to feel until it swells
until it ruptures
until it roots

so yes,
it is that deep,
it has always been that deep

          now dig

and this time,
           don’t stop
                      when it hurts