Makena Metz
Makena Metz is a Writer & Songwriter for the Page, Screen, and Stage. She has an MFA in Creative Writing and an MA in English from Chapman University. Her prose and poetry have been published with The Literary Hatchet, The Blunt Space, The Mid-Atlantic Review, Boudin, The Fantastic Other, The Bitchin’ Kitsch, Arkana, Strange Horizons, and many more.
Find her work @ makenametz on social media and check out makenametz.com
Sickness as Ballet
Darkness. You throw up. Music.
You sweat. Spotlit. You take a nap
at 3 pm on a Tuesday.
Swirling sheer dresses and twirling
on tippy toes. You walk with stabbing pain
in your legs. The music swells.
You get a headache. A dip in your step.
You take Tylenol. Adjust, spot while you turn and turn and turn.
You take Advil. Lifted into the air.
You take Ibuprofin, Oxytocin, and Cannabis
pills. You spin and spin and spin.
You wear sweaters, you live in blankets. You fall –
controlled. You make warm cups of tea and soup.
You roll up from your feet. You sit on chairs
in the shower. Head up, like a string is pulling you up
from your spine. You avoid stairs and steep hills.
Long legs, straight back. You use pain cream
and bio freeze and CBD oil and Voltaran. Fuette
and mark, keep your mark in your vision.
You treat the pain. The music softens.
You treat the itch. The lights dim.
You treat the heat. One more step.
You treat the cold. The music comes
to an end and you bow.
You treat the ache and sting and stab
and bruises and headaches and rashes.
The audience claps.
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