I found the pip between my teeth
an hour after the bitter bite
of garden currents
had faded from my tongue.
In the middle of a meeting,
too close between collegues
to spit or pick
the pith from my mouth.
Instead I chased it
from cheek to cheek
along the ring of my lower lip
to the hollow beside my molars.
The presenter lost his place,
tapped again at his laptop,
muttered a word ,
asked someone to call IT.
I swallowed by accident.
Choked,
drew a worried glance,
waved it away with a glass of water.
Outside the cleaner checked bins,
roll of bags at her hip,
quick, quiet between the desks,
she whisked any evidence away.
Dec 28, 2018
Dec 28, 2018 at 3:40 PM UTC
I found the pip between my teeth
an hour after the bitter bite
of garden currents
had faded from my tongue.
In the middle of a meeting,
too close between collegues
to spit or pick
the pith from my mouth.
Instead I chased it
from cheek to cheek
along the ring of my lower lip
to the hollow beside my molars.
The presenter lost his place,
tapped again at his laptop,
muttered a word ,
asked someone to call IT.
I swallowed by accident.
Choked,
drew a worried glance,
waved it away with a glass of water.
Outside the cleaner checked bins,
roll of bags at her hip,
quick, quiet between the desks,
she whisked any evidence away.
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