Installation by Mona Hatoum, by Chris Bullard

Untitled anonymous image from Commons.

Installation by Mona Hatoum

I wired the colander into the toaster and the toaster into the lamp and the lamp into the shredder and the shredder into bed and the bed into the ladle and the ladle into the trash can and the trash can into the crib. Each attachment created a satisfying hum as it found its place in the structure. That sound meant the connection was sure. Nothing could unfix itself and fly off. Everything that had seemed flimsy before grew strong. Power ran through everything. The trees went into the sky, the sky into the moon, the moon into the universe. All I had to do was flip the switch and the whole apparatus would start working like a dream. I stood behind the electrified fence and knew I was home.

Chris Bullard

Editor's note: This illustration is a placeholder only. The poem, as it states in its title, was inspired by a Mona Hatoum installation called Homebound. Please click here to view the artwork.
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Chris Bullard is a native of Jacksonville, FL. He lives in Collingswood, NJ. He received his B.A. in English from the University of Pennsylvania and his M.F.A. from Wilkes University. Finishing Line Press published his poetry chapbook, Leviathan, in 2016 and Kattywompus Press published High Pulp, a collection of his flash fiction, in 2017. His work has appeared in publications such as 32 Poems, Green Mountains Review, Rattle, Pleiades, River Styx and Nimrod.