Would you rather

I could blame the tension of this time
but I think my children are just fascinated
by seeing me think my way out
of their impossible dilemmas

if you had to kill yourself or dad
if you had to cut off your foot or your hand
if you had to abandon us now or die in a fire in 10 years

they present the horrors
like waiters describing menu options

and they are insistent on answers
following me around and prodding them out of me
so I have begun promptly addressing each one
like an efficient secretary

and so it is that I find myself
surprisingly exhilarated each day
by all the imaginary fates
I have been spared.