Those minerals erupting
from maxillae and mandibles
show our roots to the hard
earth that will not yield
to soft circumstance if it
can manage—like these choppers
and mashers above and under
food for more than just thought
that often bites back
with acid or crunch
etching the enamel
or cracking the crown
so requiring repair
to those bone-cousins
of calcium and other rocky
concerns not so resilient
as these cakes and crackers
springing back into the maw
as they must if the mouth and
all behind maintain that line,
bowstring-taut to that bedrock
from which ridge and flesh burst.
