two birds

i want a parrot
your wife tells
you while lying in
bed. i'm lonely.
but we just had
sex, i tell her.
i'm your husband
and you want to
replace me with
a bird. no, she
says, lighting
a cigarette and
blowing the smoke
towards the ceiling.
i want someone i
can talk to. and
what do you call
this, aren't we
having a conversation
now. yes, she says.
but i can control
a parrot, teach it
what to say, and
to say it on cue.
you've lost your
mind i tell her
and put a pillow
behind my head. i
want to hear that
i'm loved, and
worshiped, that i'm
adored. you never
tell me those things,
you never want to
talk about things,
about my mother,
or the holidays,
or where we're
going on vacation,
you never open up,
she says, sucking
the life out of that
cigarette. you know
what, i tell her.
get the bird. get
two in fact, one
for you and one
for me, but get me
the kind that can't
talk. okay?