I have been having a difficult time with my teeth this year. Years of bruxism, together with some less than top quality dental care performed overseas in a small village, have taken their toll, leaving me with no choice but to enter into a long term committed relationship with my dentist. The grinding has cracked roots and done untold damage, my jaw muscles are so highly developed I could be a circus performer flying through the air with a bit in my mouth. Truly. So this last time, after the consult when he told me how much it would cost and how long it would take to put my mouth in order, he closed the deal with the promise of a new night guard. I was not impressed. ?But wait?, he said. ?This one will not be like the others, trust me?. So I did. And, from the very first night, for the first time in years, I could finally sleep through the night.
And I woke up with this love song in my head...
Appliance Alliance: Love Song to My New Night Guard
-by Skorda
I never wanted the likes of you
one more worry, the care
the maintenance needed
to make it work beyond a day or two.
Always the possibility of loss,
the guilty pain that follows.
I never thought I needed you,
until, lying in my bed,
with you inside me
I knew at last
how great my need had been.
O!
Night guard
night guard night guard
brand new night guard
Yes!
There were others before you,
many,
and each I welcomed,
to save me from myself,
unknowing
of the damage I could cause.
And every one I loved, for their time.
The newness of each a promise,
a perfect fit, alas, short lived.
Some caused pain,
others, so smooth in the beginning,
revealed their sharper edges,
or began to irritate
until I would dread the thought of night.
I must admit I have broken a few,
or cast them out before the light of day
they were not made like you, so strong,
yet soft where I need you to be, up against me.
I think of you when you are not with me
times when I need you
today, in traffic
stopped thirty minutes
my hands clenching the wheel,
I missed you so
had you been there on the seat beside me,
I would have leaned down low,
where no one could see
and taken you in my mouth
in broad daylight.
O!
Night guard
night guard night guard
brand new night guard
Yes!
Sometimes the need is greater than want
I can say this now
thinking how night after night
grinding only against my own self
I was wearing down,
becoming old before my time
and not knowing how simple
the answer can be.
But this morning I knew.
I woke up refreshed and renewed
You had stayed all night
hard in my mouth, but comforting
and I loved the way that felt
having you to protect me
and I knew that I would keep you
here, to be mine.
O!
Night guard
night guard night guard
brand new night guard
Yes!
©Skorda 2008
Skopelos and Virgin
-by Skorda
when first you see it
across the water,
rising round and new above the mountain.
Open your mouth and swallow
while youth holds its roundness near,
and you are running fearless in the dark.
Hold it inside, it is still warm
and you will need its light,
there, inside you.
Down the road of time, somewhere
after you’ve aged, traveled,
Explored, discovered.
And the dust around your doorway
has been pounded hard and smooth under your feet.
When you find yourself growing weary and bored,
when your eyes see only ruins,
and your heart is empty.
You may believe, in your exhaustion,
that this is truth, at last.
That the mystery has unraveled,
leaving no wilderness to explore or tame.
All secrets have been shared,
the frontier has dissolved.
Know then, with these thoughts,
you have been swallowed.
The warm belly of the beast
comforts with confining darkness
and lulls with rhythmic sounds
Murmuring to you,
Curl up and sleep,
just go to sleep.
Shake your head,
stretch your legs,
do not sleep now.
Remember what you know.
You swallowed the moon,
you hold it inside you.
Not as a magpie hoarding shiny things,
or wearing the moon for beauty
or bartering the moon for wealth.
You swallowed the moon for this moment.
When you will walk to the water’s edge,
open your mouth, release the moon
and let its light build you a pathway
across the wine dark sea.
©Skorda 2008
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Appliance Alliance
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