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Aug 2011
I've got this smile I do
Where the corners of my mouth twitch up as far as they'll go
And I hold my lips just so
so that top row of my teeth are on show
But not the top gums, never those
And then of course
A little pull on those cheeks to get the dimples

And I brush furiously each day,
but I never look inside,
I never look past the 6 white teeth I show
to see the teeth beside.  

I used to have a feeling,
That laterally, they yellowed,
A furtive fearful glance,
saw shapes in the shadow,
but scared of what the light might show,
I never used to know.

Fear of what I might see,
Genetic imperfections, naturally.
So I brushed and brushed,
And then
I bit the apple,
And the chunks stuck in my teeth
And the chunks sunk down the crevices
and festered underneath.

And then I said so what: I flossed,
I took the chance to let the light dance,
And ignorance is all I lost.

I know everything.
And I wouldn't say they're yellow, more cream.
But as the floss delves down into the unknown crevices between my teeth,
It brought out some awful gunk that really stunk,
And I bled too, you know,
But I'm told those things are natural
The first few times.

And of course when it bleeds,
It's because of gum disease...
But it leaves if you can just see
what's ***** then clean.

So I made a policy decision,
not to shy away from imperfections,
as reminders of my human condition.
But instead to do the best I can
with what I've got, and all the love I can muster.

We used to do it for God,
But that's all gone in this age of science,
And meritocracy.
So I put my faith
in the healthy suspicion,
What feels right, is right.
That is, feeling is being,
Do you see what I'm seeing?

And what feels right is the best we can
The difference from man to man,
The one will live his life in fear
Of news he'll probably never hear.
The next will live his life light
Taking action, when he can,
So he might taste the world's delight.

And then of course I've got this smile
That I couldn't do a thing to hide,
As my mouth is open wide,
I've got no fear of what's inside.
mt
Written by
mt
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