"retainer" poems
i haven’t worn my retainer in weeks
i decided that tonight would be the night
that i reacquaint my teeth
with its plastic metal friend
and the pain, oh the pain
of my teeth being moved back into place
who could have thought that bone
could be swayed by a piece of plastic
and who could have thought that i
would still be kept awake
by the thought of you
i haven’t thought about you in weeks
but here i lay, teeth aching
and heart aching
Mar 30, 2014
Mar 30, 2014 at 1:41 AM UTC
I got braces when I was 16
that year I never kissed anyone
but I made boys steal things from pricy bookstores
I measure time by my teeth
every year they get more crooked
the older I get they seem to shift back to old territory
old habits
old
now even smoking cigarettes feels boring
when I walk into bookstores
I leave sticky notes with advice I wish someone would have told me then
they did
but maybe if I had found it somewhere I was looking
I might have paid more attention
my retainer sits in a shelf collecting grime
Feb 7, 2018
Feb 7, 2018 at 3:44 PM UTC
We're all ingredients in the humanity stew
The sad clowns
The prescription abusers
The chickens running around without their heads
This dish can never be out done
It's killing me
Ashes from Pompeii
The braces of teenage heart throbs
****** black and blues from abusive relationships
Fill the pots and pans
A homemade meal per say
Chain linked sausage fences
Add some Epsom salt
Some beef chuck
Giblets
And Simonides of Ceos
Daphoenus bones
A dentist and a retainer
Cornets, pirouettes and percocets
Awkward magazine subscriptions
You can buy the cookbook in all its opacity
See it in the Intrepid Museum
There is work to be done on Mount Olympus
Therefore we should go see a movie at the drive in
-Tommy Johnson
Jul 4, 2014
Jul 4, 2014 at 9:39 PM UTC
Hey it rained today
Here on Rehoboth Beach
I don't have much to say
As I laugh at each
Of the idiots on this beach
Twas not just rain
But a storm
And unlike the norm
People here claim the terrain
As would a leach.
One in particular
Was strapped...with a baby.
Above the law for sure
On bath salts maybe
Did run to the shore in agony.
Life with no umbrella
Must make one sad fella
For such measures of magnitude
To ruin the attitude
Of everyone here on Rehoboth Beach
All dem beach biddies.
Yoloswagin up in here
Gettin my swag on it cities
And all over dat pier.
Rockin dem flippy floppies
Engage slomoswag
Drunk on lemon poppies
With my gift shop bag.
Soak it up ladies
The wife beater
The shadies
Come on over here
Mmm taste that retainer
Of champions!
Can't contain her
Sweet two ton European.
Dec 10, 2012
Dec 10, 2012 at 2:47 AM UTC
the webmaster has
become quite the recluse
he's been away without
offering a viable excuse
it was back in March
that he fled from this egress
not issuing any of us
a forwarding address
on Tuesday we sent
out twenty four scouts
to ascertain intelligence
as to his whereabouts
but the search party had
no good news to impart
all of them were
so disconsolate of heart
the domain is rather
down in the dumps
since our webmaster
pulled up his stumps
we are desirous of him
returning to home ground
it will be such a relief knowing
he's safe and sound
an APB was posted
on the worldwide web
by Brianna Jason
Trent and Kaleb
to seek out the now
cloistered maintainer
who's deserted his position
as our house retainer
Oct 16, 2016
Oct 16, 2016 at 7:04 PM UTC
late last night i got home
and the skin between my nose
and my upper lip
was raw
from your mustache
and i didn't put lotion on it,
which is something i would normally do
and i didn't brush my teeth
or put my retainer in
and dental hygiene is important to me.
i just walked in through my front door and sighed a deep happy sigh
like the sighs you sigh for me so often.
my hand smelled like your hair.
and i've been taking hourlong baths
lately
which is something i don't normally do
my room is getting more and more ***** every day
and i can't find motivation to do laundry
(this is so not like me)
and i find myself daydreaming about you
while at work
and my heart starts beating.
it's never had a beat before, i swear.
and it's fastfastfast and
hard
like the way we kiss
but then we slow way down
and we play little games
with our lips.
i love smiling into your mouth
because i can't help it.
Jul 13, 2011
Jul 13, 2011 at 8:15 AM UTC
Big
Red
Empty
But not for long
Socks Rapidly shot in
Just like a basketball at the buzzer
Boxers next
Shoved and forgotten
Undershirts crisp and white
Blanket the bottom like snow
Colorful shirts
Folded and at attention
Mimick a soldier at ready
Are deployed in
The warzone
Long pants
Almost forgotten
But, not quite
Athletic shorts
Scrunched up
Ready to jump at a moments notice
Swim shorts are strewn over
As a makeshift barricade between
Regular and
Fancy
Comfortable
Collared shirts
Zip
Unzip
Another pocket
IN go phone chargers!
IN goes computer charger!
IN goes deck of cards!
As fast as the eye can see
Zip
Clip on
The black bag of magic
Toothbrushes
Toothpaste
Dental floss
Retainer case
Last but not least
The most holy of holies
Deodorant is
Gingerly, gently slid into place
All Effluvia of
The Travelers Trade
Zip closed
Jun 26, 2013
Jun 26, 2013 at 12:29 PM UTC
it’s really hard to breathe.
I can’t eat anything, I’m starving and nauseous.
and I wish maturity was a thing
but instead,
i’m stuck defending myself
against cell phone applications
that find you affection
from someone just as infected
and you already have that low of an opinion
to believe
these are the kinds of people I want to share my death bed with
I wanted to remain friends
but I don’t think that saying
**** you
is effective
when
I already have
and when I did
you held me above you
and told me you loved me, I didn’t realize
you were trying to pull yourself up too
your own reflection masked
with my skin
this false perception
you knew
you lacked within
Jan 26, 2015
Jan 26, 2015 at 6:29 PM UTC
She was a childhood friend of mine,
even if quite briefly,
who was the type of girl who would trap mosquitoes in her books,
or put her retainer on a napkin beside her lunch tray.
And she'd give me a very condescending look
(one eyebrow raised, and the like)
if ever I mentioned my poetry.
Sep 23, 2013
Sep 23, 2013 at 9:26 PM UTC
A change of scenery and a new life. An innocent beginning, as all beginnings seem to be. Still, after all these years remnants of that incipience still remain.
**A new adventure
Packed, moved, unloaded, emptied
All but for a few**
Boxes with pieces of me packed away and disregarded. Never to bask in the sun or live in all their glory. Too little too late. Like a lost retainer straining to fit shifted teeth, they no longer belong to me these bits and pieces.
**Long since forgotten
Secrets held within their walls
Hiding shattered dreams**
They had gone unnoticed for so long. Yet, the secrets of how I came to be the me before you, remain in those dusty boxes, so neatly stacked and so easily overlooked. They may no longer fit the puzzle, but they are still part of the picture adding splashes of color and bringing zeal and
**Artful shading
To my self-portrait painted
in hues of joy and pain**
Jun 23, 2010
Jun 23, 2010 at 10:53 PM UTC
teeth shouldn't
lie on pavement
and blood shouldn't
run down your face
and as i dragged
myself along the
side of the road
i thought to myself
*this is the lowest
moment of my life*
flat on my back
staring into the
12 o'clock high sun
and sobbing
*i wanted to die before
this moment but now
it's only reinforced
cemented in place
that in fact i can't
do anything right*
some wise woman
supposed sage of ages
once told my mother
that for every great emotion
a person needs a physical
container to put it in
but what should one do
when their container
has always been a retainer
that now doesn't fit?
hit where it hurts most
my mouth
years spent suffering
so i can wake up
every morning with a
fresh twenty dollar smile
and now that's
all gone i suppose
maybe i'm vain
or maybe i'm dumb
but the smile makes
the woman and mine
is looking like i'm
not so human
penny for my thoughts?
i'd give a lifetime of
change jars to get
back my perfect teeth
Aug 6, 2017
Aug 6, 2017 at 10:23 PM UTC
A bleeding heart
will fill up fast
and I am sooner
drowning in myself
Aug 12, 2014
Aug 12, 2014 at 10:51 AM UTC
The little boy
Growing into his own shoes,
His very own big boy pants too!
He has premature features that
remind me of someone... someone...
But who?
A sincere childish smile with
Protruding teeth that melts any passerby
What about his popping belly?
To rub,
To feel during his hugs,
To love love love!
It really does remind me of someone...
But let me tell you about his nails
How they always seem to be just too long
Or the way he blushes when he's caught singing a song
Silly little boy with nails too long,
soft fingers, and growing hands
He might tuck them in his pants
The way Daddy does
Girl crushes and science tests and soon
Those big boy pants will walk him out to middle school
His charming retainer lisp will soon fade away
And remind me more of Dad everyday
They share a name
My dad's pride and joy
He's his mold, his little boy
The way he reads, even holds his posture
And all the little things just like his father
Jan 14, 2013
Jan 14, 2013 at 8:33 PM UTC
curled up down the end of the
bed where loose feet hang,
comfort purrs, doused,
incontent. easy game.
so i sleep a little more:
outside, everything
will churn continually
in cyclic tone, oil-slick,
patterns always look the same.
further out, little
is left but the low rush
of breaking wavelets over
shallowing stone retainer
walls kept, keeping
the weight of this inestimable
machine
on track.
breathe stale air, smile,
the skyline accumulates;
handfuls of grey at a time.
Dec 20, 2014
Dec 20, 2014 at 7:57 PM UTC
I've got this poem, it's most astounding.
It's big and juicy like the best grilled steak.
I've pushed the publish, more times than i'd liked.
This sites full of holes, imperfections like freaks.
Unlike yours this one is defined.
It didn't need self diagnosis or shrink on retainer.
For this poem was just too immense.
A fix for this would be a no-brainer.
Full of imagery not fit for your eyes.
This gateway it did not fit.
A warning for all freaks.
502 - Its really really ****
Mar 17, 2015
Mar 17, 2015 at 8:47 PM UTC
you serenaded a soul with words my ears have never comprehended,
overused the concept of love, wringing the word out until it was left dry, there was a hope in me that the author in you would display himself for me as well, that your stanzas correlated to the feeling between us.
i was searching for the words in your mouth, my hands sinking in like a dentist on a mission, hoping to pry out the sudden surprise of a few letters from between your teeth, something to make me feel like there were still things to discovered, that you were not going to be like the others, but everything fit wrong, like when i had not worn my retainer in a week.
May 24, 2017
May 24, 2017 at 12:15 AM UTC
my retainer broke and i held it in my hand
my nails were ***** because we were at camp
it was red plastic despite tasting like metal
and you were there, we walked into a boat
abandoned in the dry sand piled high
i kept seeing flies and i felt my heart
it was enormous and i couldn't stand
you made a face to show that you felt the same
when i told you about my fear of them,
and i made a face when you said you'd
forgotten to let me know, that in seven weeks
it would be goodbye, and you were leaving
for the empty deserts of California
i thought about the days and how to tell you
that i loved you, that i loved you, here,
that goodbye was all i had and all i could give
because my mouth was full from all the camp food
and the darkness you had chased away
you told me to sit by you later
when we watched the symphony play
when i woke up i couldn't shake the feeling that you had
died
Aug 21, 2014
Aug 21, 2014 at 5:31 PM UTC
the brilliance of the darkness
served only to annunciate
the loudness of the passing silence
While the pervasiveness of the defeated idea
continues to occur in self-[a.s.s].embly lines
The nano utilizes a scope of micro to flesh out the macro
Simultaneous non-being
duly correlates to the emptiness of the tao’s pot-shaped,quantum hat
Possibility is endless, until you enlist knowledge as your retainer
The origin of all particular things is lost
through the knower being zenly slapped,
I just would have loved to help schroedinger's cat
pur.........
what a ***** he wouldn’t even open the box to check her.
Dear ∞ this is my letter to you while I let her be bound in quite comfortably in lazer-light leather.
Feb 22, 2016
Feb 22, 2016 at 1:00 PM UTC
1am
you knock at my door
i open it, standing there
in my oversized tshirt
and my hair done in braids
i let you in
you have a new speaker
you're so excited
you apologize
because your retainer
is still in your mouth
and your hair looks
like you haven't brushed it
and i don't know
how to tell you that
you are the most beautiful
person i have ever seen
you ask me for music
preference but i say
whatever you want
because you are my
melody and i could
dance to you all
night long
you climb on my
roommate's bed and
sit there because
she's out of town
and i get in bed
we sit in silence
you with your retainer
and me with my glasses
we're listening to
indie music and laughing
saying maybe today
the world isn't so ******
and this bass is just
so **** perfect
and we're not lovers
we're just friends
and that is so much
better than anything
i could ask for
you ask me how we
are so perfect
together and i
tell you that it is
because your presence
feels so much like
home to me
it gets later in the night
and you're falling asleep
we talk about your dreams
you want to return to
cape town and become
someone dedicated to
service and love
and i don't know
how to tell you that
you are so perfect
to me and i love the way
you hold yourself and
always strive to be someone
better, stronger, greater
we're listening to songs
in languages i don't speak
but gosh
your eyes light up when we
speak of the fields and
the ceremonies
you feel like you belong there
and i feel like i would
like to be somewhere near you
so that after you're done
saving the world for the day
you can come lie
next to me and we can
listen to indie songs
until we fall asleep.
Feb 24, 2018
Feb 24, 2018 at 6:17 PM UTC
The first time I can remember writing a poem was in 3rd grade. We wrote haikus about springtime and when we had 4 we sewed the paper together with pink yarn and gave it to our mothers for valentine's day. The first poem that I read was about friendship.I didn't like it.The first poem that touched me was about suicide. It talked about pretty elfin faces turned up to the light and how when the blood splattered it looked like a rose a bouquet of flowers between her legs she said no he said yes, more. The thing was I thought that pulling a trigger on yourself was beautiful. I had this image of a skinny girl in a white dress leaning over a toilet letting all the bad pour out of her pink lips. thought that carving his name into your stomach fat was meaningful and that scars were a thing to be proud of. I thought that only eating celery and working out until you fainted was cinematic. The reality is that the blood splattered because the bullet cut a dime sized hole in the back of her mouth and came out where her ponytail would have been. The pressure shattered her larynx and lodged pieces of bone, teeth, and cartilage in the surrounding skin. Her tongue was torn to shreds and her metal retainer melted into her gums. There weren't flowers between her legs, there wasn't even a condom. She never said no but she never said yes. They were in love and wanted to be together but she didn't want him. She pretended she enjoyed it and cried in the bathroom when he fell asleep. When you zoom into the picture of the bulimic girl in a white dress you will see that she isn't a teenager she's 40 but she still looks like a child. Starvation prevented her bones from growing. Her lips are chapped and she has sores lining her gums, burst blood vessels in both eyes. Her hair is long but thin and dry and her eyelashes had fallen out and never grown back. She is kneeling over her daughter who offered to pay for rehab's toilet because she ate too much during thanksgiving. She bruises easily and the purple isn't the color of a night sky it is the color of deoxygenated blood vessels popping under her skin and congealing like fat on a turkey. Carving your name into your rolls doesn't make him come back to you, it prevents you from ever wearing a bikini. Stop making self harm and mental disorders seem beautiful and romantic, because there is nothing beautiful about having to bury your only child because he forgot to eat and used the razors one too many times.
Feb 8, 2016
Feb 8, 2016 at 10:57 AM UTC
You cause hurt like my retainer.
My mouth has no taste
since we never laid a hand
upon the other.
But you caused sleepless nights,
anxiety attacks worse than the others.
I listen to sad songs
since you hated all of those.
I need to face you in person,
but to do that I have to
look into your dark eyes
and make you cry.
Feb 24, 2015
Feb 24, 2015 at 9:46 PM UTC
I like the way teeth are when they don't fit together
Overcrowded and coffee stained
I didn't want a string of pearls
Or an assembly line of bleached profits
Much to my dismay I was blessed with metal wires chaining my freedom down.
Two years and a mouth full of venom later they were stripped from my bones and left the enamel screaming. "Now, wear your retainer" mother says But the wiser me decides that my teeth were never meant to be straight just as my crooked mind is going straight to hell
And I like the way my best friend says my name with her tongue protruding her unaltered grin
How the 'S' sounds like a sly snake stealing from the thrift store on the busiest corner in town
The way my heart stings as if I've been bitten
I am Medusa I try to convince myself
I cannot turn myself to stone
But there I freeze as the alarms ring
Mar 9, 2016
Mar 9, 2016 at 2:29 AM UTC
A \\\* of earl grey -- Clay container (3)
Is the \\\\\*, they say, -- Inclined lea (5)
From unrighteous \\\* -- Turf retainer (3)
To the hand of \\\*. -- Deity (3)
Nov 12, 2018
Nov 12, 2018 at 6:47 PM UTC
I am so Boring That…
Morpheus takes my correspondence course
I teach the House of Lords how to induce snores
I make strong men yawn with my tired metaphors
I am on retainer with all the best sleep clinics
I am the reason the grooms in Macbeth slept
Hypnos and Nix envy me and my skills
Rip Van Winkle was wonked out by my rhymes
My verses make for Odin’s yearly sleep
I wield my Sword of Soporificity
And the condemned oversleep their executions
Look upon my cliches’, ye mighty, and despair, hahahahahaha…!
Feb 1, 2017
Feb 1, 2017 at 5:15 PM UTC
there is a thin
layer of grease
over everything
that i touch
yet the skin over
my knuckles is
dry and red
lips cracked
i try and try
and try but
never manage
to be enough
maybe they put hate
in the cleaner
i soak my retainer in
because i feel it
every time
my teeth clench
i know your name
your order your
lunchtime nuances
about your dogs
grandchildren
your job and house
little useless details
about what makes
everyone in this town
who they are
but you don't
know me
and neither
do i
Jan 12, 2018
Jan 12, 2018 at 10:10 AM UTC