Friday, July 1, 2011

bite


Unfortunately
there is no morphine
for this kind of death

it is painfully slow
with only wood 
to clamp in your teeth 
and wait for rigor mortis

the impulsive breech 
so naively embraced
is like sugar borrowed
from a neighbor

when it is time
to return the favor
only a handful
of detritus remains

a good screen death
is always impressive
so bite down hard
on this stick in the mud



Tess Kincaid
June 2011



39 comments:

  1. love the third stanza... does it all come in one flow to u? just like that?

    wonderful :)

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  2. I wake some mornings to find my teeth aching and then I know...I've been clenching my jaws again in my sleep. Bad dreams, daytime stress, and problematic people are made of teeth for me.

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  3. Teeth, when we're little we can't wait for them to fall out and when we're old we pray they stay in :)

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  4. love this...each line, brilliant

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  5. Teeth can be double trouble! Nice write.

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  6. What a great title! And a great poem. Thanks for them, Tess.

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  7. Once I said to me dentist, "Each tooth seems to me a viable life in its own little world, with its own feeling and brain."

    He said only, "TELL me about it--grin!".

    (The dentist grinned, not me--this time!)

    As good as ever you are...rather, as good as it gets!
    PEACE!

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  8. Never been a grinder! But I'm sure I've caused it! Great poem mate! Cheers!

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  9. Ouch! Tess, do you have no feelings? Remember, I'm a lower left molar down, on this time last year!

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  10. 'Stick in the mud"...perfect. The teeth with faces is very interesting. Smiling teeth : )

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  11. I enjoyed the new out of the old. For some reason I immediately thought of Jack O Lanterns.

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  12. Despite the crazy title, this piece isn't really so much about teeth.

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  13. ...i had only one tooth removed since birth and that was by a sudden accident and carelessness... terrible... i hate it when a part of mine, even the li'l ones, was suddenly taken for no favorable cause... liked the poem. (:

    Brightest blessings.

    ~Kelvin

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  14. I know it's not really about teeth, but it's strong and dark and I'm so glad that I don't have to endure such a hardship.

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  15. Bravo!(despite the fact I have toothache today!)

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  16. very vivid images. Love the photo, too, incidentally!

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  17. I have reread it a number of times. It is one of those poems one must ponder. I like that in a poem. Mine are always so straight forward. "the impulsive breech/so naively embraced" seems central. The accompanying photo is wild for sure.

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  18. aggghh--just got back from root canal....so true

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  19. Tess -- you lost me on this one -- hear rumblings of a tragic relationship but really don't know?

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  20. Now I'm singing that Eurythmics song...

    Bad dreams are made of teeth
    Who am I to disagree?

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  21. Even though you say it isn't about teeth, I quite often have dreams about my teeth falling out. I wake up with them feeling loose and painful. I once did a collage that I named "Fear of". Reminds me of that Tess.

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  22. Wonderfully odd, just my kind of thing, Tess.

    Btw, I called my dentist office just this morning to schedule a cleaning. Seredipity? Perhaps.

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  23. Rene, you picked up my drifting earworm!

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  24. Well this has my mind going for sure - it is great to read again and again to unlock!

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  25. The nightmare is like teeth grinding something solid like wood to dust? Or waking from it to find the remains of the nightmare have been chewed up and lost in the scream?

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  26. Macabre, existential, dark, compelling,
    turgid, and takes us into a strange
    catacombs within, where we begin
    to get a glimpse of life in lesson,
    and get a whiff of rarified air.
    And it is good not to understand
    the direction of some poetics, like
    taking a roller coaster in the dark.

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  27. What's in word? And in rows of them?
    Here, brilliance! (And no need to brush!)

    Happy Fourth of July, Tess!

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  28. I don't want to talk about teeth as I am still suffering from my root canal.

    If this post is about impending premonition of death or loss, it's cleverly written.

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  29. I can see the identity of you with your work.

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  30. The picture creeped the crap outta me - but the poem - beautiful. I loved the last stanza.

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  31. Amazing, focused, intense-- thanks so much for linking at new meme--

    When I think of breeching something I think of crossing, overcoming, getting past, coming through... and to me this seems, allusively, lyrically to be about a painful moment, the death of an expectation... beautifully ambiguous-- the new poetry pundits all say ambiguity is good. And good thing you didn't call it "Bite Me"--:) -- love these lines:


    the impulsive breech
    so naively embraced
    is like sugar borrowed
    from a neighbor

    when it is time
    to return the favor
    only a handful
    of detritus remains

    sometimes things are beyond repair and all we can do is bite down.. xxxj

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  32. This is a very powerful piece - says a lot about pain and hopelessness to me.

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  33. I love the horror and fear lurking in this, and the inevitability. Great poem!

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  34. hey tess-- i'd like to know if link is working-- left comment on this yesterday-- plse let me know-0-xxxj

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  35. gritty...i like it...had a tooth once they cracked it into pieces with a pry bar to get it out...about the worse thing i have ever felt...

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  36. Thanks for your comments, all. Your encouragement is most important to me. xo

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Inject a few raisins of conversation into the tasteless dough of existence.
― O. Henry (and me)