IN MY TEETH
(for my hygienist)
the morning before my
last check up
I wrote this little note
along a ribbon of
dental floss
and wove it in my teeth
slaloming between the
incisors and molars
and it read:
“in my grill you will find
wisdom was extracted
long ago
so take your sterile probe
and uncurl my soggy
lingual scroll-
a cuspid confessing
this canine puppy love”
since we met it’s like I
see eye teeth everywhere
I want to say that you
are a queen
so don’t tell me that your
crown is just a filling
would you be horrified
to hear that if I could
I’d unhinge my jaw like
a snake and swallow you?
my smile is just a thin
white veneer I practiced
in the mirror- hiding an ancient deep cavity
and so you see my dear
hygienist please take this
impression:
exposing, confessing,
abscessing, infecting, reflecting… can’t you see
I am clean?
I really have to know
if you feel sensitive
like me or are you numb
from all this Novocain?
by the way
I wrote this little song
just for you…
(drilling and sucking sounds devolving into agony)
please spit it out!
