nothing hurts anymore

I used to get the drop.

That thing in the chest, going down.

I have not felt it in a while now

and I have started to miss it.

Somebody was unkind to me last week.

I clocked it the way you clock traffic.

I waited for the reaction to arrive

and it did not turn up.

Nothing hurts anymore.

I asked for this. I asked for this.

Nothing hurts anymore —

and nothing else does either.

I cannot do her face anymore.

I can do the pictures of her face.

That is the trade I got:

the pictures survived and she didn't.

People think that means it worked.

They cut the thing that does the feeling.

The good ones went with the bad ones.

Same switch. Same everything. All of it.

I had a piece of news last week,

a good one, an actually good one,

and I stood there holding it

like something I was minding for somebody else.

So if anybody knows how you switch it back on, I would genuinely like to know.