my life as a device

i put another CD in my mouth
i picked up off the street. the mirror side
called me prism. i flossed with its rainbows.
the pieces of trash on my street 
are my neighbors.
i wave hello to several condoms hiding 
behind a street lamp. 
the grass is dying again.
patches of brittle beige. every tree dreams
of living in a world with more ways to breathe.
breathing fingers. breathing teeth. breathing bark.
my face recognition technology 
doesn't notice me anymore. i blink. 
i hold my mouth still. it blinks & blinks 
& asks where are you? it's thrilling
to slip away. a bird eats bread
from the trash tangle & dreams of surveillance.
a few weeks ago images of hong kong flickered
on the TV screen. people gathered to destroy 
a camera. i was watching with my family.
we all agreed it was horrible, 
nodding to wash our hands before changing the channel 
to a commercial for an eyebrow trimmer.
i thought to myself i could use that. 
the eye converts light to 
impulses. i find eyes where you wouldn't expect.
there are three cameras leading 
to our apartment. one out front.
one pointed towards the alley. one pointed
towards the stairwell. i picture my landlord 
watching hours of footage to catch us
entering & exiting with no particular purpose
other than the need 
to make the cameras feel important. 
when my parents bought me a video camera 
for one of my birthdays my first project
was to keep vigil over my stuffed animals.
i believed they moved when i wasn't there
so i pointed the camera at them 
& dared them to move. i never caught anything
though once i thought i saw one breathing.
i slowed the video down, viewing it
on the back of the device on a tiny screen.
another day i set the video on the tri-pod
& captured myself dancing.
i hated the video i had looked better
in my head. when i'm in the bathroom
sometimes i worry there are cameras 
behind the mirrors. i remind myself
there are no cameras in bathrooms.
maybe there's a two-way mirror.
what do i know about the texture 
of a CD? i have pressed my tongue there
to feel each recollection. we used to
burn our crushes CDs in middle school
when there were still eyes 
on the rooves of our mouths.
i could take a video right now out the window.
i could crouch & be a camera. 
warm my organs with secrets 
as they unspool from light.