NARRATIO DENTIUM INFIRMIUM--- THE STORY OF THE SICK TEETH

I come my friends
Weeping and lamenting
That bright/graying day
I went
Not daring to hope
Knowing only that
What awaited me
At my annual tooth checkup
Was a beating heart
Sweaty palms
And Marvin singing plaintively
"Mercy, mercy me...
Thing ain't what they
Used to be..."

Oh, hear me, you heavens and earth,
All you great spirits come to my aid
I feel incapable of looking the truth
Squarely in its blood stained eyes,
Glowing, now purple,
Now green, now stained with
Flaming red...

My muse, my muse... hear my cry and help me



That bright-greying day, to high windswept Allenmore
I came

Knowing this day, my dentist
Would bring to a quick, sure end
My malingering... not brushing thoroughly,
Not flossing--- "Soon, soon," a cold
Piercing voice whispered to me,"you will
Find yourself gumming frantically, uselessly
Away at your tomato soup, your saltine cracker--
No chicken, no turkey, no well done steak for you...
Those days are long gone--- long, long gone..."

My blood turned to Rainier's high top ice, as I heard
The prophet's gibbering words and razor thin cackling,
"Long gone! Long gone!

Oh, the receptionist was gentle
The nurse very sweet
The dentist did his best to allay my fears

And I, court jester that I pretend to be,
Vainly attempted to hide my fears with
Empty frowns and words quickly streaming
From my lips, like spring waters madly,
Madly cascading down the slowly thawing hills and mountains
Poor jokester... pretending to be a horned spirit



But, finally
(Oh sweet heavenly spirits I thank you)
The doctor and nurse calmed me down
Enough so that I could hear
Them say once, twice, and yet again:
"There is much work we must do
But we shall help you
You need not gum your way through
The next few years"...
I thanked them,
Relaxed,
And finally let them
Help me choose
The way of cleaning and brushing and flossing
And smiling and hoping and trusting and
Living
Living....Living....Living