LIFE MATH

you have a baby in a flannel blanket
cradled in bony seventeen-year-old arms.
subtract the father
add the torture
what do you get?

the baby gets bigger
the sum of her digits almost adding up
to the number of times the mother has cried
over her multiplying bills and divided family.

six years later
that chubby three-year-old raised to the power of two
her life is memorable
minus the doodles on the fridge
and the attention of her mommy
who's always busy doing something
that makes zero money and two more toddlers.

now she's a teen
walking the streets
her absolute value
is half of the kids' around her.
she's fed up
it totals to enough.
she decides to be something greater.

five surgeries later
she equals beautiful
the subject of cat calls and whistles.
was it worth it?
the input is a handsome guy
the output is a black eye
her beauty is less than her emotions.