Misery Index

Photo by Bernard Hermant on Unsplash

A ten, he declares
this nurse, whose babyface,
unblemished, rates my body
unusable.

On my feet — of ten pain —
I walk into this office.
No sound from my lips unbidden
till I laugh, recall
the faith-imploding
PAIN
as that vampire fetus
wound its tendrils
through my innards,
screamed through
my own lips and wrenched
its unholy knowledge
of this world’s misery…