The paper airplane brain

The origami brain

I figured out what my head feels like sometimes. It’s like when someone takes an 8 ½ by 11 inch piece of paper and then crumples it in frustration. Then crushes it harder and harder so the whole thing is a small crinkly ball, unrecognizable as a piece of paper.

Sometimes my face twitches, my inner ear feels crumpled and folded up. Whatever this is tries to pinch my right eye closed. My right eye is like one of those squishy balls someone presses in their palm to relieve their own tension.

Sometimes I think I somehow fractured my skull.

Tell me the truth. Did I get kicked in the head by a zebra and no one will tell me that my circus trick went horribly wrong?

I hear a little music, vaguely remember a dancing poodle on horseback.
There were sequins right? And bright lights?

Paper and snow. This is the day.


(Egyptian sculpture, 1386-1349 BC, at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston)