grandma has no teeth

“Be true to your teeth or they will be false to you.”—Soupy Sales
 
grandma has no teeth
to sleep with,
lest she swallows them at night;
snuggled underneath
her blanket,
e'en the dark she dares not bite.
 
her indentured smile,
perpetual,
in its saline water jar,
boasts no lethal guile
to victual
harnessed by her canine war.
 
when she pops them in
at morning,
speech reclaims her lisping tongue;
words she could not spin,
adorning
arias night had left unsung.
 
grandma makes false teeth
a habit,
though her dear heart, pure and true,
faithfully, beneath,
like granite,
leads no compromising coup.
 
© Copyright 2024 January 23
by Clyve A. Bowen♫