it is dentists and the mirror image of dentists [2015]

1.

took a picture of the deer head
          it smiled at me and licked its nose
and I thought about crying and knowing

going up the chair lift     was kind of like an escalator
but it wasn't     and not knowing was the taste
          "c'mon buddy!"

          of an onion     of a pair of leather gloves
put on blue pants and a pair of sneakers
found four kids beneath the shoe horn

smiling and playing hand-held games
          "this is what digestion looks like"
or maybe it's a picture of a deer head

2.

what is waiting but knowing nothing
"I was thinking about flexibility and tradition"
          and I can't remember right now

but I know I slept through most of the weekend
and this is no problem     "thank you"
I think a club sandwich sounds good

trying to think     "she" should be here soon
I am smiling at the fire hydrant
          but it's warmer than you'd think

this picture features your grandfather and me
          (that small tent is the toilet)
and I thought you did but I wasn't certain

3.

I had read that she lost it and found it
-- beneath the shoe horn --     and digested it
in the tradition of deer heads and flexibility

"I am choking"     "wait... I am choking"
but kids know nothing about onions or taxidermy
          count down to one from three

and warmth is a condition     a principle
          (nothing I thought ever amounted to a lick)
like going on and on about clothing and crying

go ahead     "you'll have to excuse me"
smile and pretend you don't know
          it never does what the picture does

*

or the mirror     this is where the teeth are found