Love is like hugging a porcupine as tight as you can while it pierces your heart through

life is unique for everyone
let's not interfere because it makes us feel right
let's just accept and stop trying to change and rearrange  
complexities
that we will probably never fully understand

-


i never actually thought i would
live long enough to experience the
surfacing of all my wisdom teeth–

when my fourth one began to throb
and push aside the tooth next to it,
i felt the pain like a spark plug
in my jawbone

but i drank no alcohol
for it that time

i wanted to bath in its presence
as it chewed its way out
because it was my
              very last
                         one–

a knowledge earned from
this Last Rite of Passage

a rebirth of myself through
the gum line of aging tissue—

this crowning new thing you
will never have enough
of anymore...


s jones
2021


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