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.