What's Underneath

Something cracked when I stood up.

Not cracked. Creaked. A sound

like the apartment itself was waking up,

but it came from inside me.

I looked in the mirror.

My shoulders were different.

Higher on the left.

I didn't know when that happened.

I tried to stand straight.

Couldn't find the straight anymore.

It was like the straight had moved

and I was the only one who didn't know.

I rotated my shoulders backward.

Forward.

The sound happened again.

Not painful. Just wrong.

Like my body had been holding something

and was finally tired of holding it.

I bent forward.

Touched my toes.

The vertebrae made themselves known.

I could feel the architecture

of what's been holding me up all this time,

and it was older than I thought.

It was already starting to leave.