one through ten

Doctor,

Your question,

my chronic pain.

My answer,

at your request, 1-10.

But first, can you tell me

1-10:

How much you love

each of your children?

1-10: How much you would miss your sibling

versus your spouse?

1-10: How you would order

your senses?

Lose the wild raspberry and amber

spray of sunset, versus

the scent of your newborn’s skin?

1-10: Where your passions fall?

Your successes, your failures,

your dreams?

I am not sure, at all, Doctor,

you understand the weight

1-10 implicates—the hidden

balances, agendas, the compensatory scales.

If I were to tell you

that the way down is deep,

the sinking long,

and you won’t make the next narrow pass

without two oars,

Doctor, which

one

would you choose?

Jennifer Bradpiece was born and raised in the multifaceted muse, Los Angeles, California, where she still resides. Despite chronic pain and illness, she tries to collaborate as often as possible with multi-media artists on projects. Her poetry has been published in various anthologies, journals, and online zines, including Redactions, Mush Mum, and The Common Ground Review. She has poetry forthcoming in The Bacopa Literary Review and Moria, among others. Jennifer's manuscript, Lullabies for End Times will be released in early 2020 by Moon Tide Press.