Poem for Show

I am always working on my inside voice
by speaking into a device just for show.
I am regal and responsive to your needs
as long as they don't become demands.
In most situations people find me charming
and competent. I'm good for the group.
If people include me, I have something to say.
I like smiling into the faces of my pals.
The face you have should never reveal shame, ever.
My situation calls for feeding my face with your face.
I'd like to make you damp and cozy.
I'm in favor of swampy youth. I would like to have real people
on my team of medical advisers should I ever need a team.
When I dream, I prefer to dream of real people
doing real things and perhaps even making me laugh
rather than making me scared of something they might do.
If I dream of you, please remember my preferences.
I would not like all of my childhood
in a stainless steel scoop. The sky
is as full of me as I am full of the sky. I am an inhabitant
of this regal corpse. See how nice I dress it up
in a striped shirt from Muji? I got out of Brooklyn
just so I could come home again. Do I need to come home at all?
What I'd like is something that does not
demand too much of my mouth yet is still
interested in what I have to say. Maybe my bed
is something I can sleep in.