brief complaint

écœurée, i wake up to light and to pain
la nausée, i look down at the floor:

light is coming from above but
pain is in my body and i can't ignore it

how much can i endure of hunger
pain and loneliness?

i just don't know because i go on
waiting for a cure, waiting for

a new drug to calm this nervous
rush, this somatic abstraction

that weakens my immune system
and leaves me lying on my bed

awake and not dead, awake and
waiting for life to begin

how much longer when light
and pain intersect at zero and

whoosh over me like a chill breeze?
i stand at the door and i breathe

and i think, i could be deathly ill in
iraq, i could be grieving the

death of a parent, i might find myself
lost on a desert floor in february

and i think, i'm glad it is july and
that lilacs were blooming in june

that light and pain are two sides of
the same coin like love and hate

i take another lesson, sit up in
my bed, write a brief complaint

and continue on my quest for
reconciliation of my daily questions


watercolor: hommage à la peine (laura tattoo)