To the Artist's Page
To our home page
To T. O. Davis's previous piece
To T. O. Davis's next piece
Aches
I used to road march in shit like this,
I said, pointing to the streaming white.
Then my knees creaked,
and I couldn't climb a flight of stairs
without hot, wheezing pain
snorting from flared nostrils,
snot threatening to smear my good shirt
fresh from the dryer.
I cry for nitroglycerin
and wonder if EMS will have to electrocute me.
At the summit, I gasp and sputter each Saint
through thick saliva.
God, I'm old.