Poetry

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Word Problem

If you are 26 years old
and had 1 mother who gave
birth to you but then
was taken away and
married someone else and had
1 daughter and 1 son
plus you had 1 father who
married 1 woman who was
pregnant with 1 child that
was not his,
but then had 2
daughters after that
who were and then got
divorced in 1977 and
married another woman
and had 1
son ---
if all that happened,
plus, additionally
you had another
mother and father
who you knew and who
lived in a house that
you lived in also and who
then had 2 sons;
how many mothers, fathers,
brothers, sisters, half
brothers, half sisters,
stepmothers, stepfathers,
aunts and uncles do you
have including the ones
you haven't met yet?

Amy Jane Cheney