She goes to sleep

with the illusion 

of human connection 

glowing from her TV 

and spends her days

watching people in a box

as if real people

she could hug and touch 

were only a thing of museums 

and she had to pay 

just to get in,

because if she can’t rely 

on her loved ones

to call her 

to come visit her

at least she can rely 

on her daily scheduled programming 

to arrive on time 

every day 

without fail

and without excuses

to save her from feeling 

like somebody’s 

last priority —

or that she 

didn’t even 

make the list.