After Natalie Damjanovich-Napoleon’s Syzygy
1.
Gone:
eighteen years of diminutives.
What do I call you now
to represent our new alliance?
What treat does this name represent?
I must learn a new routine,
in concert with the pain in my tooth,
my heart throbbing in my jaw and neck when I bend forward.
White tombstone pills dull the ache to a subtle throb.But.
There is no panacea for what else ails me.Last night you knocked on my bedroom door,
sudden politeness that chilled more than epithets.
My name a single syllable
lobbed from your mouth to the waiting air.2.
At the dentist
I sit, still as the deep of water
in his chair.
Quiet as he prods painfully in my mouth
with pick, alongside the bitter mewing of a miniature saw.
Salt water runs down my throat.I nearly drown
as I am flung forward into a windswept landscape.
Seabirds caw mournfully, flapping
figures of eight
in every direction.His overhead light shines,
its stretched, non-human arm clean and clear on my face.
This is his fourth attempt, and I am losing my nerve:
as he repeatsthis shouldn’t hurt but you will feel some
pressure.
3.
I don’t know if you are pulling me, or I am pulling you.4.
He balances, rotates his wrist
in self-contained circles,
hideous grinding in my jaw,
focused attention,
gentling me with soothed murmurs
as I gasp and flap
like a wild bird
trying to escape
the hunter’s gun.5.
We are trying to burn and bury
this thing between us,
all these years
rising phoenix-like
two wild creatures spooked
by their own shadows.6.
He finally succeeds,
wet, bloody hole where a molar was.
I can’t help the tears, the crack of an eggshell
split asunder yolk
and heart
pulsing
then and then and then again.
- 114: NO THEME 13with J Toledo & C Tse 113: INVISIBLE WALLSwith A Walker & D Disney 112: TREATwith T Dearborn 111: BABYwith S Deo & L Ferney 110: POP!with Z Frost & B Jessen 109: NO THEME 12with C Maling & N Rhook 108: DEDICATIONwith L Patterson & L Garcia-Dolnik 107: LIMINALwith B Li 106: OPENwith C Lowe & J Langdon 105: NO THEME 11with E Grills & E Stewart 104: KINwith E Shiosaki 103: AMBLEwith E Gomez and S Gory 102: GAMEwith R Green and J Maxwell 101: NO THEME 10with J Kinsella and J Leanne 100: BROWNFACE with W S Dunn 99: SINGAPOREwith J Ip and A Pang 97 & 98: PROPAGANDAwith M Breeze and S Groth 96: NO THEME IXwith M Gill and J Thayil 95: EARTHwith M Takolander 94: BAYTwith Z Hashem Beck 93: PEACHwith L Van, G Mouratidis, L Toong 92: NO THEME VIIIwith C Gaskin 91: MONSTERwith N Curnow 90: AFRICAN DIASPORAwith S Umar 89: DOMESTICwith N Harkin 88: TRANSQUEERwith S Barnes and Q Eades 87: DIFFICULTwith O Schwartz & H Isemonger 86: NO THEME VIIwith L Gorton 85: PHILIPPINESwith Mookie L and S Lua 84: SUBURBIAwith L Brown and N O'Reilly 83: MATHEMATICSwith F Hile 82: LANDwith J Stuart and J Gibian 81: NEW CARIBBEANwith V Lucien 80: NO THEME VIwith J Beveridge 57.1: EKPHRASTICwith C Atherton and P Hetherington 57: CONFESSIONwith K Glastonbury 56: EXPLODE with D Disney 55.1: DALIT / INDIGENOUSwith M Chakraborty and K MacCarter 55: FUTURE MACHINES with Bella Li 54: NO THEME V with F Wright and O Sakr 53.0: THE END with P Brown 52.0: TOIL with C Jenkins 51.1: UMAMI with L Davies and Lifted Brow 51.0: TRANSTASMAN with B Cassidy 50.0: NO THEME IV with J Tranter 49.1: A BRITISH / IRISH with M Hall and S Seita 49.0: OBSOLETE with T Ryan 48.1: CANADA with K MacCarter and S Rhodes 48.0: CONSTRAINT with C Wakeling 47.0: COLLABORATION with L Armand and H Lambert 46.1: MELBOURNE with M Farrell 46.0: NO THEME III with F Plunkett 45.0: SILENCE with J Owen 44.0: GONDWANALAND with D Motion 43.1: PUMPKIN with K MacCarter 43.0: MASQUE with A Vickery 42.0: NO THEME II with G Ryan 41.1: RATBAGGERY with D Hose 41.0: TRANSPACIFIC with J Rowe and M Nardone 40.1: INDONESIA with K MacCarter 40.0: INTERLOCUTOR with L Hart 39.1: GIBBERBIRD with S Gory 39.0: JACKPOT! with S Wagan Watson 38.0: SYDNEY with A Lorange 37.1: NEBRASKA with S Whalen 37.0: NO THEME! with A Wearne 36.0: ELECTRONICA with J Jones