dental dames
by Bonnie MacAllister
[ poetry - august 05 ]
she dissolves
cement with air,
scoops out vales of marrow,
sinew of gums,
pock-marked behind milk teeth
her breath tickles a promontory of gaps
engorged by the prick of instruments.
craglike, she mounts
bridgework over cusp.
burn of synthetic metal brush
reduced to ring sockets,
circle raw tissue with tongue
brutalized in glare of muted overhead.
tamp with cotton cylinders,
bite down hard as crash of cymbals,
chew on carbon paper,
swirl it like a Wurlitzer board
expel porcelain and blood.
