My symptoms aren’t constant or severe.
I don’t believe I need an M.R.I.
And anyway, I cannot see a clear
or easy way to get one if I try.
The state of care is not the patient’s friend.
I’d have to book and wait and after all,
the managed health care system won’t attend
to me except with rigid protocol.

If I agreed to pay the listed cost,
exorbitant before insurance cut,
I’d find my aim distorted, and exhaust
my efforts better put to mend. So what
I’ll do is rest and stretch my neck a bunch,
and try to end this tendency to hunch.