Spiraling Abecedarian
by Susan Vespoli
“Trumpcare Will Be a Disaster for Opioid Epidemic” –Rolling Stone, June 28, 2017 |
Alex’s baby
bottom choppers
crept up like darts.
Duo of early pearls
emerging front row
finial twins, grinners,
grinders, happy sprouts
held in mouth like
innocence jiggled loose, lost,
jammed beneath pillow. Kid notes
kissed up to tooth fairy “Leave cash, please.
Lots.” The mom
(me) never said
“No” or maybe
only rarely. Put five bucks under his
pillow, smiled quietly smoothed
quilt. No sign of rotting then. Cavity free.
Really straight
sans orthodontia. Teeth
to die for, eventually under siege. Addiction is
ugly. I can’t watch them vanquished,
vanishing into white powder,
wasting gray. Xed out by OxyContin
Rx. Then junk. Ya. I can’t watch
you dissolve, zero each enamel bead into
zilch. Zot.
Susan Vespoli lives in Phoenix, AZ where the opioid epidemic is alive and well. Her work has been published in a variety of spots including Mom Egg Review, TheNewVerse.News, Write Bloody, and dancing girl press.