--Cell Mate--

if I ask
do you think I'm pretty?
you say, of course
of course, dear, you're beautiful
and you act
so surprised
that I could even think it
that I could ever wonder
but I know --
I know that you're lying.
you're lying to me.
you think I'm ugly
and mean
and stupid
and you wish hard
that you could escape.
but you're just a prisoner
just like me
and we always
brush against each other in the hall
and shrink away
because there's nothing we can do
there's nothing but
being lonely
and being stuck
either of us thinking about
how the other's so ugly