RUPTURE

I no longer think of rupture
as broken. A muscle in the heart perhaps
or leg. Rather than a clear break
in the femur or fibula, instead a strain—

the muscle or ligament.
These can be even more painful

than the break.
Physio they tell me, gruelling work,
nightly stretches like sinew sky up pulling towards moon,
advil for inflammation.

Any questions? says the nurse.
Yes I say.
Why did she leave and when
is she coming back?

Whatever hurts finds you in the body.

Yoga will not help, nor will anti-inflammatories.

I cannot walk. Injury is foreign to the body.

My muscles never forget you.