uprooted
at the bar
mother takes a napkin that held
silverware / now holds tooth
blood mixes with
tomato sauce
tongue the gummy space
that used to hold bone
smile is
unbalanced
mother says I can have dessert
if I let her take the other out
it is not time / but I let her
so I can have cake
front teeth gone
smiling does not come easy
Alexis Bates is an emerging poet and writer that forces people to reflect on how they relate to topics such as self-perception and mental illness. You can read her work in Boston Accent Lit, The Passed Note, Rising Phoenix Review and elsewhere. She has chapbooks forthcoming from Varsity Goth Press, Luminosity Press (an imprint of Firefly Magazine), and Ghost City Press.
VAGABOND CITY 