6.27.17

i touched my face

after cutting serrano

peppers

.

they sear my face

phytotoxins–

.

pain so intense

i must contort my entire

body to mitigate it

.

sliver of light:

as long as my face burns

as long as the burn spreads

all my other pains erase

.

i have learned

the medicine for pain

is other pain,

that hurts must be transferred

from one point to another

constantly

so that no one part of you

suffers for long.

---

Written at 12:33 at night, in my office, in Agoura Hills CA, after watching a video of David Foster Wallace explain why the phrase “prior to” is puffed-up, unnecessary, and technically incorrect based on its Latin root.