Not Your Joke – a poem

My neck snaps back,
Sudden.
Quick.

Simultaneously: my left calf tenses.
My eyes blink.
My eyebrows raise.

My shoulder raises.
Fingers jumping about.
My neck suddenly flicks to the side and I feel a click and pain.

My jaw clenches.
Now my neck is constantly nodding.
Stomach clenches, pain shoots through my body.

Legs kick out.
Feet,
And toes start to jump about.

Now my right arm won’t stay still.
Oh shit, I punched my head! Thrice!
My finger flips up at an unaware passerby.

The sniffing won’t stop.
I’ve not got a cold.
And, no blowing my nose doesn’t help!

Random words come out.
Some end up forming sentences.
I say the strangest of things.

‘You’ve got a chicken on your head’
‘Fuck off’
‘I love boomerangs’

The time all this happens in?
I’d say 5-10 seconds.
On repeat constantly 24/7, only the content changes.

I’m exhausted.
My muscles ache.
And I’m in pain.

Tourette’s
My reality

Not your joke.