Susan Barry-Schulz
The Wong-Baker Faces Pain Rating Sonnet
- my body is a fine tuned pain machine on a scale
- of 1 to 10 it will blow you away/would you
- describe the pain as numbness/tingling/burning
- stabbing/throbbing/aching/radiating?
- yes absolutely I would
- place x on the affected area
- draw a why on your favorite parts
- follow along as the eyebrows descend
- and the mouth reverses its curve from
- no hurt to hurts little bit to hurts worst
- note the sprinkle of tears at the end of the line
- yes my body is a fine tuned pain machine/a series of
- serious ellipses lit up like Christmas lights sending
- shiny mixed messages from never to infinity
Biography
Susan Barry-Schulz grew up just outside of Buffalo, NY. She is a licensed physical therapist living with chronic illness and an advocate for mental health and reducing stigma in IBD. Her poetry has appeared in The Wild World, New Verse News, Shooter Literary Magazine, SWWIM, Barrelhouse online, Nightingale & Sparrow, and elsewhere. She lives in a lake neighborhood in the Hudson Valley with her husband and one or more of her adult children. It all depends. You can find her on twitter at @suebarryschulz
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