A Quiz

1.
Go to where you keep silverware
and pull out all your forks.  Which
was the last one you used
before hearing Michael Brown
had been shot?

2.
How many times
have you washed your sheets
since you first heard the words,
“drone strike?”

3.
True or False:
you have showered
with greater frequency
since September 11, 2001.

4.
a.
How many times
has a single tear
rolled down your cheek
as if in homage to
those icons of your childhood films
who were depicted as
stoic but for that one
brief moment of humanity?
b.
Which eye has served you best
in this regard?
c.
If this has never happened to you,
is it because
you cry such plentiful tears
that there has never been just one?
d.
If this hasn’t happened to you,
is it because you remain
unmoved, even now?

5.
Identify on a map
all the locations
where you brought
your A-game,
where you really
came to play,
where you showed up
in a big way.
When you’re done,
connect them with a ruler
and a pencil.
Look at the polygon created
by the borders you’ve drawn.
a.
Who lives in there?
b.
Have you been there?
c.
If you’ve been there,
why didn’t you bring your A-game
there as well?
d.
List five reasons
you left it behind you
at the border.

6.
Go to your desk and find a pen,
then write your name
thirteen times.
Imagine you are signing
executive orders.
Would your third-grade teacher say
that your current signature
resembles the one you had then?

7.
Give yourself away. Do you miss it?

8.
(NOTE:  skip this question if you’ve never had an orgasm.)
a.
How have your political beliefs
affected the orgasms
you’ve had so far in your life?
b.
How have they affected
the orgasms
you’ve given to others?
c.
What has changed the most
since you first became sexually active:
your beliefs or your orgasms?

9.
If you own a gun, does it feel
better or worse
to hold it than it used to?

10.
Think about the room you were in
the last time a news report gave you hope.
Has its decor changed at all since then?