I am Pavlov’s dinner bell, in pieces on the linoleum.

you have lived in that crisp white lab coat for longer than I have

sneering at rows of canines with a clinical coldness.

I wonder why you harbor such contempt

for me, for them.

we’re doing what you want.

I’m smarter than this. I know that I am.

but even once the doors have been thrown from their hinges

the lab ransacked and the study condemned by the panelists–

I know I will be sucking back saliva through gritted teeth

fighting fruitlessly against a body with a preprogrammed agenda

the next time I hear a chime.