At the sport medicine clinic,
posters on the walls show
foot and knee injuries,
dislocated shoulders,
close-ups of ruptured tendons, ligaments.
Here, the anatomy of a sprained ankle.
Over there, the mechanism of concussion
caused by a violent blow to the head.
On the table, a set of acupuncture needles
next to models of a spine, a skull, and a hip bone.
I hear someone groan behind a closed curtain,
“Relax,” says the physiotherapist
as he presses down on my ribcage.
“You’re too tense.”
(Editor’s note: poet Shai Ben-Shalom, an Israeli-born biologist, examines current events in the Blacklock’s tradition each and every Sunday)
