to Victor Frankenstein,

yesterday we talked about
you & your monster. no, not in
a judgmental way, we were just 
feeling bad for you both. when i 
was little i used to cut apart
my stuffed animals & sew them
together into new creatures so 
i feel like i might understand
you to some degree. i would hide them,
my new creations, because i didn't
want my parents to think i was 
doing something wrong. was i doing
something wrong? possibly. it goes
without saying that everyone makes
a lot of monsters in their life.
poems are sometimes monsters.
did you ever write a poem 
victor? if you did i hope 
it was full of sutures & that it
stood up & talked to you. i'm full
of stitches right now & touch them
in the mirror, only i think
of them like rows of corn sprouting
from my chest. the surgeon, a farmer
who tilled the skin to lay the crop.
the sun goes white for us victor
& this is a glorious operating room.
there was a song playing that
i don't remember no matter how
many times i try to surface it. 
when the corn is tall & ready 
will you walk with me, victor? 
we can go find your monster. i know
his favorite haunts. there's 
the honeysuckle bush on commonwealth ave.
& the dumpster behind letterman's diner,
there he sits & writes poetry on
the backs of his hands. strips
down naked to count the rows of
corn that will one day turn him
into soil. victor, will you turn
into soil? i think i already have.
i want you to pull one of my strings
& help me come undone. keep pulling
until the horizon pulls away 
from  the earth & we all fall
down in squares of fabric, pieces
of a quilt that the real god 
was sewing. was the real god really
sewing? or was it us? there's a hole
in your jacket pocket where
your house key always slips out.
your house key is a seed & 
it plants itself in the dirt to 
make a house-key tree. the fruit
tastes metallic, is this one of
the monsters? yes, you remember
i said that we make a lot of monsters
but i think i might of been wrong.
i think we make less monsters than 
we realize, either that or 
monsters are wonderful. i want 
to show you all the mix-matched
stuffed animals, will you show
me how to bring them to life?
the frog with butterfly wings
& the boar with an ostrich neck.
i myself am likely also 
a wonderful monster,
& you victor? will you let
me pull your thread?