it sits on the pedestal of stainless steel this impersonation of my smile in white ceramic the man in the lab coat peers into my mouth under the blinding glare he has a direct line that talks to my tooth via the root canal without passing through me conversations conducted via drills and speculums and grinding paste via cracks and cavities gums that have softened blood oozing slowly all these things that float disembodied, unconnected to the rest of me. i am good only for the occasional noise - "keep your hand there", "open it wider, yes!" and "don't worry we're here to look after you" but that "you" isn't you it is just this piece of white bone that is being talked to and bit by bit even that little piece is becoming a careful forgery, a white coat impersonation i am getting lost someone find me please but no one can hear me in the drillsound i am becoming a forgery of my smile the next time he talks i wonder if it will be to the forgery of my teeth or to his own impersonation
amit mukerjee
kanpur, Nov 11 2005