| Dental Calculus
Teeth are the museum of the mouth. Each tooth a vitrine, an amalgam of history & decay. There is truth in a tooth, incision in teeth. Impaction in gum, wisdom in pain. Nothing is digested that does not first enter the portal of the mouth. The bones of the salmon, & the bones of the cod. The injunctions of cabbage. The tartness of berries. The crispness of carrots, the tranquility of peach. The toughness of steak, the silence of pork. The oblivion of jello, the geometry of cheese. If the molar is a pestle, the mouth is a mortar. But if the mouth is not a mortar the molar is not a pestle. At times I feel like David Niven, & then I am overcome by a desire to be a dog, & wander as a dog, randomly, sniffing here, sniffing there, my tongue lolling out & my canines glistening. Each time I lick my teeth I feel a measure of symmetry, & feel that life is consonant with the stars that give it breath. The sweeter the fruit, the softer the bite. The tougher the meat, the harder the grind. "It is not easy to achieve freedom without chaos," writes Anais Nin. Nor is it easy to chew the swirl of events in our life without a relish for reverie, the churn of a ruminant mind. Nor are teeth uniform & dull but multifarious & keen. The tusks of the elephant are an ecstasy of teeth, & the tusks of the walrus are extravagant & strange. The teeth of the rattler is a syringe of poison. But the poison of the hypocrite is a syringe of gleaming teeth. The shape of teeth are curved & oblique & are a mural of associations with the curve of things. The curve of the melon, & the curve of the pouch in the pouch of a purse. The curve of the hood in the gleam of the hearse, the curve of the curl in the curl of the wave, the curve of the wall in the roof of a cave, the overall curve of the overall cave, & overall curve of the universe. It is a joy to chew celery with celerity while the eyes digest the viands of the printed page. When water dreams of teeth it turns to ice. When ice dreams of teeth it begins to bite. When molars dream they dream of grinding. When incisors dream they dream of meat. The blade of the sword, & the sword in its sheath. The sound of the cello in the chill of the cherry. The calculus of clay in the shine of the teeth. |