the color orange, and other things twisted by chronic illness

"i get it."

i once had someone

tell me

that he had a headache

the other day

so he knows

"what i'm going through."

in that moment

i wanted

to punch the wall.

i wanted

to scream.

because i am

close to drowning.

and he only

dipped a toe in the water.

the thing about

chronic pain

is that it has

so many more factors

than a single experience

with pain.

i can manage

"one" of many things.

one headache.

one day of back pain.

one stomachache.

but it is

the consistency

of the pain

that makes my experience

impossible to be understood

by having one headache.