i ate a piece of ice by accident,
but it felt pretty cool,
though that was a dumb joke that i told my nephew
so he might think i’m cool,
but i don’t think it worked
absurd dental work postponed in a moment of weakness, fantasy
creeping through the crevices of molars sprung a leak and fussing
over the mundane cyclical sickness feigning health
among the leprous lecherously leeching onto literary meandering
called a mammoth, in the eviscerated moments shrinking inward
to the cold and unforgiving or the cold and not quite conscious or the frigid, placid
plaques held plague feasting on enamel as tongue meets tooth
meets moment of realizing pain and breath and spoken word
come together to exist; and flex, and rave, and criticize
from the brief refrain from collapsing atoms masticating in a a moment of
absolute silence, bear in mind, barely holding on to what happens from one
day to the next; though thankfully I think there’s a drug for that
Fred Aiken Writing 