the shoulder
is in pain —
left
side
deafening
throbs of muscle tightness
silence
and then the occasional relief
just to tighten back
into an unreleasable knot
each pulse
extending the reach
of neurons firing warning shots
up my neck
down my arm
across my back
toward my head
and i don’t know how much longer
i can live with this
constant reminder
of my body’s
flaws