Blocked Nose

The air no longer gets through. You breathe in, and nothing happens. The fine channel that connects you to the world is sealed. You breathe through your mouth, feel the dry air on your palate, hear yourself snuffling. Your sense of smell is dulled. Food tastes like nothing. At night you wake up because your head is heavy and the pressure behind your forehead throbs.

Medicine will tell you your mucous membranes are swollen, that histamines were released, that there is an inflammation or a virus or an allergy. All of that is true. But it doesn't explain why right now. Why this year. Why the nose closes up precisely at the moment when something in your life stagnates — something you don't want to name.