Lost Teeth
by Susan White
My young, autistic friend
names people by their teeth:
woman with yellow bottom teeth,
boy with crisscrossed teeth,
pointy-toothed man,
girl with the space in the middle.
She reads enameled codes.
Animals show teeth
as a threat-except humans,
who flash their bones
in friendly gesture.
The ambiguity
is terrifying.
skeletal exposure
rooted to the nervous circuit
of electric translation
A loss buried beneath pillow
compensated with
a dollar, five.
Parents take and leave,
making maturation magical.
Decomposed victims are
identified by dental records.
Teeth survive
and they don’t lie.
No wonder I dreamed
my teeth crumbled
like crushed chalk,
littered my sweater,
as I begged you to stay
with all the wrong words—
my mouth defying my mind.
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