Sight Beyond Sight

Beginning joke,

origin story

for how I began 

my middle age.

I laughed,

thought of myself then,

I only I could see

and see me now.

I don't need these 

cuban heels,

I don't need 

a disc compression.

A hot stone pain,

the vice of my waist,

nerve lava,

false stomach ache.

I've lost

friends to lasik;

I don't need these

lenses,

my face reformatted,

the periphery laid bare,

a new layer of meaning

to the wince and the glare.