A Pain In The Neck

A pain in the neck. Stiff muscles wake me up with dread
A tightness in my shoulders turns me sour
As hours go without an end.

I clench my jaw against my muscles fighting back against my bones
While pain shoots through my scalp and down my hair
My body tenses up.

But ‘tension headache’ doesn’t seem to grasp
The days and weeks I wasted getting by.
The money spent on every cure I tried.

Deep tissue, needles in my flesh
Stretching out against the tremor in my leg
Joints cracked back into place again

Each offer me a moment of relief
But stress, or travel, or maybe just my thoughts
Will still return and tie me into knots.

Give up the fight, lean back into the pain
And slide back down to sleep a while
Tomorrow I will try again.

Photo courtesy of Lucija Ros

Categories: Poetry