flâneur

OBIT | The Poetry Foundation

poetryfoundation.org · 180 words · saved by 1 readers

Victoria Chang vs. Imagination Advertise with Poetry Poetry Magazine Poetry Historical Index Poetry Magazine Archive Submit to Poetry

My Mother’s Teeth—died twice, once in 1965, all pulled out from gum disease. Once again on August 3, 2015. The fake teeth sit in a box in the garage. When she died, I touched them, smelled them, thought I heard a whimper. I shoved the teeth into my mouth. But having two sets of teeth only made me hungrier. When my mother died, I saw myself in the mirror, her words in a ring around my mouth, like powder from a donut. Her last words were in English. She asked for a Sprite. I wonder whether her last thought was in Chinese. I wonder what her last thought was. I used to think that a dead person’s…

saved by

related reading