Lady with Teeth

by Jessica Otto

Every Thursday night she has
nightmares where her teeth
break at the root
and fall out of her mouth.
She does not know if someone has hit her
or if she has drunkenly capsized.

Being drunk is like being asleep
but with more panic.
Sometimes she is with a man.
Sometimes she is with another woman
but more often than not she is
alone with her teeth.

Last Thursday her teeth exploded
from her mouth as rebels
fighting to throw off her
harsh, abasing tongue.

She gathered them up from her
sticky pool of tyrannical
blood —as always, when
she woke—and tried
to force them back
into her mouth.