Chocolate for Migraines
First it was cramps
Grinding, debilitating cramps
Tying my abdomen in
An impossible sailor’s knot
And out came the heating pad—
A thick, orange water bottle—
And the plug-in blanket,
The rice sack that smelled like
Lavender in the microwave
Double socks
Double blankets
Pain, searing hot showers
48 hours of misery.
After I had a child,
The cramps went away
A blessing—
Til three months in
I was cursed by the hormone witch:
Migraines
A pickaxe to the neck
Blurring my vision
Every month
A jackhammer
For 72 hours
On a jumbled knot of muscle
In my right shoulder.
The heating pad was no match for them
And the doctors gave up
Ibuprofen, my only friend
While the construction in my body—
The roadway for estrogen—
Is underway.
But
For those three days
Chocolate is delightful
And no one will tell me—
No app, no magazine—
That I need to watch my waistline:
I will scoop that ice cream
Poke a hole in the center with my spoon
And fill it with fudge
Like an eyeball
And it will be
Mount Vesuvius in my mouth
An eruption of pleasure
Spreading across my synapses
Don’t tell me to diet
Hold myself back
Take magnesium
Eat kale
You know nothing about
Women and their bodies
Because
I’ll take chocolate for migraines
Every time.
Mt. Vesuvius is perfect!
I love it!