Andrew Kozma

TWO QUARTERS LESS A PENNY


What do we owe? Death asks
while removing my teeth. The process takes years.

It is painful. They make it so
I don’t have to consider a life wasted bone by bone.

After every surgery, my body a cavity.
My muscles shake. My eyeballs ache. A broken toe

is treated by being untreated.
The sun burns skin in seconds flat. Just walk in, they say,

the water’s gotta be better
than this. But under the surface it’s all a shade of blue.

A monopoly on monotony.
Oh god, I don’t believe in you. Neither do I, god says.

It’s true. All true. Teeth in hand,
I come begging for answers. What else can you do?


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