Sunday, July 16, 2017

ALEX'S TEETH

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.