Burn After Reading

Everyday I put “the face” on
The dressed up in lights
show-business kinda happiness

Walk fast because it feels
Like if I pause
My legs will drop out

It’s trying to stand up,
In a box, in the ocean, and the waves
take you everywhere except where
you want to go

Proceed with vertigo

You’re –going– to have a stroke,
said the neurologist, if you don’t
Quit smoking
But I still do.
I’ll remember that diagnosis-day
literally as D-day.

Tears in the elevator, though
I held it in down the hall
Thanked the doctor for his time
and my mother
grabbed and held my hand so tight
“at least it wasn’t something worse”

What could be worse?

The words I look forward to now

You’re stable.

–LM