#75: A Sublingual Tooth

Poem written after singing with the faculty choir for the winter concert

Copyright 2025 by Gary Dale Burns

(TRANSCRIPTION for text-to-speech)

A Sublingual Tooth

It's crucial when singing 
the hymns to open outward 

widening the circle 
of shrubs, briar roses, 

that keep your heart 
hidden from the SWAT team 

of love. When the dentist 
gave you the option to pull 

or keep, you gave amnesty 
to the sublingual tooth - 

why take something away 
that speaks the freak 

in you? Self_love of 
nature's error, nub of 

truth imperfect no world 
could be designed without. 

For the arrest, a warrant; 
scribbles unpoetic, 

permission the outflow 
of personhood to another 

for keeping and letting go. 
The tooth is no inconvenience 

this very silent night 
as love's star explodes... 

it's nothing but water 
music, up there, where 

wiser men find their wisdom 
beyond teeth or nails.