All the stitches
have transformed you into
a sock puppet. A socket
we plug things into.
We empty our pockets
and compare the contents.
You have to use your imagination
because you don't have any.
Me: 3 quarters, chapstick,
a cracked peppermint.
You: a pocket knife, a beech tree,
a photo of your mother as a child.
This is an inappropriate
time for jealousy
but it happens anyway.
It's not funny to say that
you belong on the SciFy channel,
but I say it anyway. Because
of the tubes, I explain.
You see the truth in this and stop
minding when more appear.
We start calling the hospital room
Battle Star Galactica
and I start shooting you
with my hand gun
and you start playing dead
at the end of every episode.
We are getting good.
Sarah Bartlett lives in Portland, OR. Her chapbook (co-written with Chris Tonelli), A Mule-Shaped Cloud, was published by horse less press in 2008. Her recent work has appeared or is forthcoming in NOÖ, Burnside Review, Raleigh Quarterly, Coconut, Sir!, Sixth Finch, Diagram, and elsewhere.