All we really want is sleep. We watch documentaries

and study hibernation. We play Scrabble and compare

bedsores. Lesions is our favourite seven-letter word.

Sometimes we go for breakfast. I hate the way you eat

your eggs. We sip cough syrup from champagne glasses;

everything is glamorous if you use the right tableware. Call me

darling. Your mother calls and asks why I wear so much black.

We mix our metaphors with Sprite and they become flat

and we drink them anyways. You eat Nutella from a spoon

in the dark and I pretend not to notice. For my birthday

I ask for a catheter to keep tucked between my thighs.

We make plans to become nothing at all;

we practise every night.

from subTerrain #72

Photo by Hannah Green. Accompanying image to “Spring Cleaning” and “Roommates” (subTerrain #72: I Live in an Apartment).