Why am I up at five a.m.?

Unexplained anxiety curdles

My reversible Target Comforter

Is smothering me

Thirty-five years

Without disintegrating

West Hollywood under fifty degrees

Should be chilling me

But I’m warm to the touch

Pounding sinuses

Are clogging my ears

Compromised hearing

I sense my beating heart

Rushing waves

I need to decongest

Bundled in my Winter coat

From Tijuana forty-five years ago

Checking the CVS brand

Spotting a free blood pressure machine

Why not?

My arm slips into the tunnel cuff

The start button tightens

Squeezes the muscle tendon

The reading says

155 over 80

I’m going to have a heart attack

Or a stroke

Mistake

Do it again

166 over 80

Worse

No Sudafed for me

Google says machines

Are unreliable

For petite arms like mine

Or exaggerated

Elephant arms

So, I’ll live in a vacuum

Until Urgent Care

Takes a peek

And leave you guessing the outcome