expected

and I always wanted to say something
more than
what I bit back

bloody teeth and Pavlovian
associations are only half of what keeps my
crayons inside the lines

if you rub a cloth in pheromones
a snake will perform a mating ritual
and
we are assembly lines too,
news anchors obeying the teleprompter

tides taking orders from the moon
perfect clockwork
action reaction
cause effect

polite scripts in Arial Size 12 font have my
italic eyes begging you to
ask me something in Bold