"Hush now my little darling,
Blow your nose and wipe your eyes."
"The "Tooth Fairy" comes tonight,
And he'll leave a big surprise!"
"So, dry those tears sweet Jim,
Dream of rainbows in the sky."
"And tomorrow when you wake,
A silver coin you will spy!"
Moonlight drifts through midnight dreams,
Such innocence enthralls him.
He tip-toes like a shadow,
But, what plight might befall Jim?
A single pearl rests neath pillow
The evidence gaps young smile.
"Let's peek in my bag of tricks,"
His methods are somewhat vile!
"But, what's this...only "one" tooth?
"Don't dream golden, I'm not through.
"One just won't cut it for me,
But, the rest of them will do!"
"A little drop of ether,
So little Jim won't awake."
"And with all due diligence,
Your little smile I will take!"
Just like he slithered on in,
He slinks out of bedroom door.
Wearing a "Cheshire Cat" grin,
Twenty teeth lie on Jim's floor!
Parents peek into bedroom,
Twenty pearls checkers the rugs.
And right there, next to Jim's head...
Just a bag of silver slugs!
Killing
time
without
wounding
eternity
Life
in the
balance
life
— on the edge
(Red Lodge Montana: August, 2025)
Twilight was the time of day
as well they do concur
about the hour of crepuscular dusk
or evening if you prefer
there in the gloaming
altho' the light was slightly dimmer
I took a look at the situation
and saw more than quite a glimmer
of absolute absurdity the altercation confrontation
as if every nation were to follow the Law
of Exact Retaliation an eye for an eye
we'd all be sightless both you and I
or Reciprocal Justice a tooth for a tooth
for in truth me and you'd
have nothing at all with which to chew
and all done in the name of what
I'll only surmise
it's just for man to prove he can
if so it could be our demise
as we would find
unable to feed we'd go hungry
while the blind lead the blind
12 when I wrote this, from the perspective of a mushroom.
My gills grasping at air, but the grass is not too far;
My scales glimmering stupidly to shine through watered tar.
And in the gaseous tarmac world, I shine here far too bright,
And oh, the air, too stale if for my gills to get it right.
I long to build a house and make a living off of sticks,
Press flowers to make bookmarks. Feather ink dips.
And for one day, to hear ... a knocking or a rattle
Of rats and pigeons at my door. To me, should they grapple
I wished to fly away with birds, claws ripping flesh and all
To find my new roots in the sky: frail, delicate, tall.
I wished to burrow in the ground when I must collapse.
I wish to hide me from the world. I wish for a relapse.
A tingle down my stem, my gills no longer pulchrify
My dirtied shine, my residue: I tell you, "eye for eye."
This vivid tarmac world around me, perfectly reflecting
How little you appreciated when we were worth defending.
He that sleeps feels not the tooth-ache
William Shakespeare
'Cymbeline' (1609-10) act 5, sc. 4, l. [176]
apparently, Mr. Shakespeare never needed a root canal!
Nothing comes without something in return.
You evaluate life with a sense of selfishness,
And never succumb to your own failure.
One moment, life is good
But the dark days made God a man
When the choice was yours.
A life for a life, and sins lead to death.
You play smart with the Messiah,
Forgetting you are His masterpiece.
Before each turn, He knows
But He still won't save you from your foolishness.
You're doomed like Esau, deranged like Cain.
Your beliefs are rooted in the promise
All sins are forgotten with confession.
And then you birth more sins,
Following the same pattern to seek forgiveness,
Making a mockery of the Most High.
Who plays with God
When your very end lies in His place
Or another place, where your sins are tested,
Reaping all that you've sown?
But it's never too late to make a turn.
An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth,
This will be your destination
If you resist giving salvation a chance.
A moment of relief from sins,
And a confession that is genuine,
Only then will you see the Messiah's favour again.
Megolodon was a very toothy fellow
who was probably not too mellow
he would search for all kinds of prey
and treat his find like a buffet
he probably didn’t have many enemies
and I’m so glad he is not in our modern premises
tooth
jagged, canine
aching, decaying, eating
denture, enamel, manicure, claw
grabbing, clenching, filing,
etched, pinpoint
nail
I heard the tooth fairy lost her teeth.
Thief stole every last one, and her wand.
She can’t wave away the loss. Senseless,
of course. Sore kids won’t let it go -
their tooth. They’ve moved to Neverland
to escape the crooked, but Cook has
a secret treasure with a wand for a key.
Now Peter found the old Captain’s stash,
bagged it, filled it with crocks and clocks.
Peter Pan capped the tooth fairy’s smile.
The Captain will be screaming for a while.
she is felt still
a tongue tip
recalls her grave
it speaks tenderly
i had her crowned
yet such a royal regalia
did not suit
her innate modesty
she was a tireless waitress
who served up
treats and sugars
with a candied Mona Lisa smile
a love lost is not rootless
yet it must speak from a hollow filling
the heart of which
turns upon cavities of regret
decades later
i eat
these empty words
yet still enjoy them
A tiny, glowing, wing-ed creature flies
to homes around the world in every land
compelled to take each tooth we lose and then,
to sneak a coin to sleepers whilst they sigh
as wispy whistles whoosh from holes inside
and taking the milk teeth we lose as planned
when growing up from baby boy to man.
What does a tiny tooth for fairies buy?
Perhaps a car or wand or just some bread?
Ten molars for to rent a fairy flat?
I do believe in fairies, Come on, clap!
And some say that they eat the teeth instead!
Do they get more if they battle the cat?
Who takes their teeth when they grin with a gap?
Oh, how you brushed and washed me,
And lovingly dental flossed me -
How tragically you lost me,
When I was extracted from your skull
By an overzealous faerie,
Toothless, hideous and scary,
Who from kids like you, unwary,
Snatches denture teeth, which he can cull.
Grimoire enchantress beguiles vetala invictus, slicka min kisse, hehe just kidding, just a u’i lata spreading sugar, a sweet gift. A snarl like smile crosses my countenance as I manifest into a deity of quintessential grandiloquence on this edifice, casting thy maestra symphony to be or not to be liminal esoteric Mnemosyne velleity, but in fact a vatic edict on tantalizing your most intimate sultry.
Necromantic kissy kissy muah, to the necrobiotic, rictus lambent lament, melodious songbird choir of sempiternal complexity to make sanguinary fervid incipient lachrymose flooding the streets. Cross this lycanthropic malediction for I ventriolic assanina husks empyrean arcana dismal fates under thy hex with the depths psychopomp Yggdrasil.
Careful where you tread mortal, goddess of the nigh is here, witchess gazes through the fenestral, nocturne saucers glimmer as the siren lures you with serenades and her visage, just an itty bitty bite is how it starts, catch a sweet tooth and it will splay you apart. Velvets bear jagged fangs emptying your chest cavity of your heart, delicate if it’s eaten before it stops.
Everybody spoke from town to town
That he had the greatest smile hands down
Till his big brother Keith
Knocked out all his front teeth
Now he greets all in town with a frown
One tooth Tilly was his name
Women wished that he’d been tame
He wore a light pink suit
With his high-top boot
His daily life was spitting game
Related Poems