The second dentist
x-rayed me without
the lead vest,
but the friendly assistant offered a
coupon to an ice cream shop with
a train that ran above our heads
I will need not watch my mouth
in front of the children and grandchildren
Smells of worn out wallpaper and
slowly using up our bodies
My parents delivered news as follows:
My foot has become wedged under the f-ing lawnmower
or
The f-ing doctor ordered the wrong color prosthetic leg
or
I’m f-ing someone else, have your things moved out by tomorrow
Once and a while
I peeked at the rough bellies of taxidermy animals to see if the genitals
travel along in a body’s partial reincarnation
My mother did let ‘goddamn’ slip though
the evening we were watching Friends
and her boyfriend Jeff maimed a German Shepherd
with his Kia on the way over;
I wondered that night if Courtney Cox
had ever killed an innocent creature
Authenticity is the word here for today