the wicked twinge of a kinked neck,
the reflexive jab of stepping on a tack,
the hot, wriggling pain of thawing toes,
the shallow, diffused, ignorable bruise,
the untangled yank of strained muscles,
the omnipresent, draining ache of illness,
the irresistible stab of staring into the sun,
the icy nothingness of a deep tissue gash,
the sharp and simple sting of a sliced finger,
the throbbing implosion after a night of excess,
the arm deadened under a lover's heavy head,
the clenching, unbearable throb of broken bones...
 
The sum of all the individual physical pains
with which I've been acquainted
amount to a mere nothing
when weighed against
the crushing
emptiness
of having
failed
love.

01/06/2009

Author's Note: There is the paint we have lived, and the pain we choose to inflict. Sometimes I really enjoy the absurd generality of the English language. This is a meditation on two such examples of very important words with ridiculously general definitions. Pain and Love.

Posted on 01/06/2009
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