the back of my neck is burning, like i'm trying to hold my head up and it's too heavy, like it's full of everyone else's thoughts, not mine, and i keep reaching for my phone, another text, another email, another request, and it's like a reflex now, before i even register what they need, i'm already typing 'yes' even though my thumbs ache, even though i was supposed to be reading, supposed to be having that five minutes and i can't remember the last time i finished a thought for myself, let alone a book, maybe if i just deleted all the apps, threw the damn thing into the chattahoochee, maybe then the burning would stop, maybe then there'd be space for something else, something that was mine, some other feeling, some other shape, some other answer besides yes