Saturday, January 9, 2010

The Dentist Chair

He said: You should only feel pressure. If you begin to feel pain, let me know.



The anesthesia wore off within ten minutes. After a while I began to breathe heavily, almost gasping. Clinging to the armrests. On the verge of blacking out, squirming in the chair, like a fetus lost in darkness.


He said: Are you in pain?


Exasperated and sweaty, I shrugged my shoulders, not willing to communicate any further. He decided to give me more anesthesia for the last fifteen minutes of a surgery that took over an hour to resolve.


One father. One son.


One hour. One wisdom tooth.


The pain of unresolved pressure.

1 comment:

  1. You may be a masochist, but at least you're an honest one.

    I like the structure of this one too, particularly the way the last line seems to be physically holding the verbal weights of the piece.

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