you know the way a sore tooth
feels when cold air hits it?
a sudden ache in your gums
that is nothing more or less than
a punishment for breathing,
and it hurts so bad
you feel it in your spine,
which doesn't really make sense
but you shake to the rhythm of its
taunting anyway.
and somehow
you are reminded of your childhood,
caramel glued to the roof of your mouth
like the bumper sticker you foolishly
plastered against your car,
beneath the window...

some nights my entire being
is a sore tooth,
and i am hit with cold air.
a sudden ache in my heart
that i feel rolling down my spine...
it is nothing more or less than
a punishment for surviving.

so here i am
peeling grief from the
roof of my mouth
and i'm sorry i don't always
answer your calls,
i don't always live in this skin,
sometimes i need to adjust
the fabric from the outside
before it gives way
to the small tears in its seams
& so, i guess,
i just want you to know
if i ever seem far away,
i'll be back
as soon as i am safe
inside myself again