by Carolyn Agee

I am the latest in a line
of who knows how many women.
I’ve accepted that.
He says he loves me.
That much I believe.
If he loved himself,
he’d get the test.

How can you love
someone else,
if you do not love
yourself?

Maybe, once he’s wrapped around me,
this won’t matter.
But I know better.
I am worth the cost of $15.75:
the dignity—respect
of a blood test.

Carolyn Agee is an actress and author living in the Pacific Northwest. Her recent and forthcoming credits include Recovering the Self: A Journal of Hope and Healing, And/Or, and The Lorelei Signal. Her Web site can be found at www.facebook.com/CarolynAgee.