Pinched Nerve

A Thanksgiving memory inspired by ‘Once in a Lifetime’…

you may find yourself
on the toilet
looking down at your phone
your neck craning forward
pulling away from your spine
and you may tell yourself
OW JESUS CHRIST WHAT THE FUCK
so you may stop looking at your phone
and you may tell yourself
NO MORE PHONE
NO MORE LOOKING DOWN
ONLY LOOK UP
JUST LOOK UP FROM NOW ON
and you may get on a plane two days later
and travel to another part of the world
for thanksgiving with your family
and you may make it through that day
and go to sleep and wake up the next day
in the bedroom of your beautiful airbnb
with your beautiful wife
in beautiful fort lauderdale, florida
and you may feel like you’ve been hit by a truck
the base of your neck the epicenter
of pain
pure uncut undiluted unkind hard scrabble jagged shards of glass
pain
but it’s not just your neck
because it’s now spreading through your shoulder
and radiating down your arm
your left arm
and you may tell yourself
JESUS CHRIST IS THIS A HEART ATTACK WHAT THE FUCK
but it’s not tingling or accompanied by shortness of breath
it’s a vice
a steel clamp pressing into your muscles
a constant punishing pang
and you may tell yourself
MY GOD WHAT THE FUCK
and you may hunch forward and tilt your head to the right
in the bedroom
on the stairs
in the kitchen
on the patio
at the pool
on the beach
and everyone may look at you and say
UM, ARE YOU OK
and…