I Grind My Teeth: Oral Poetry

It was kindergarten.
The creepy guy on lunch duty
pulled my teeth out with a wrench.

They fell out in a clump
of enamel and gum.
Still, I felt convinced
they wouldn’t notice.

I lost my teeth again –
the four front ones on top.
They remained in my mouth
with Scotch tape, held down.

My teeth are so loose
they protrude at all angles;
My lips have parted,
forever alone.

It’s weird. In dreams
I’ll be endlessly falling,
my throat slit,
a child’s voice calling,
but I only wake up scared–
delirious and delusional–
when my fangs are not bared
and able to reflect the moon.

*Dreams of lost teeth commonly symbolize feelings of insecurity, loss, or transformation.

I have always been interested in the concept of dream interpretation, yet I am always going back and forth between believing and not believing the accuracy of a real-life translation.

However, I have been dreaming about losing my teeth for as long as I can remember. Starting in elementary school and continuing into the present day, I have had the lingering fear that I will one day soon be without my teeth.

The hard thing about this constant worry is that I am afraid I will never be able to rid my mind of it. Teeth are so often the focus of my dreams that I spend my waking hours thinking of them too. Unfortunately, this leads to more of the same dreams. I cannot stop the cycle.

It is for no other reason than my recurring dreams that I wrote this poem. On some level, I think I expected it to be a form of catharsis. In this aspect, I believe I have failed. I have simply confirmed how much time I spend thinking about my teeth. I am perpetuating the cycle.