hollow places

it’s too much.
work
applications
cancer
the other word
medications
decisions
leaving
surgery
med school

and now
i have ten holes
for 23 years i’ve had zero
and now i have ten.
ten hollow places
ten fucking straws that broke the camel’s back

completely unbelievable
and yet totally so,
since life has hole-punched me
at least ten times
in the past five months.

my left shouts
plaque and enamel
are just that,
plaque and enamel.
but the right pounds,
you’ve let life strip and drain you,
erosion,
decay,
become a breeding ground for hollow places,
the third month to the day.

you used to be the model patient,
always made god the dentist proud.
now just another rotting one,
crumbling,
atrophied,
hollow.
ten times and three months over.

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