bare-bones

i've got nihilism stuck between my teeth

-i thought about nihilism today
as the dentist tugged my lips and
fished around in my mouth

i'd like to think he was wrestling with my tongue
like some conqueror worm
edgar allan poe type
horror and macabre

and i'm supposed to sit here and take it
like a champ
like a chimp
we are monkeys
homosapiens

ufo tractor beam
floats above my head
like holy light from heaven
or LED light bulbs
blinding me

i cannot see the masters at work
drilling masterpieces into my incisors
the masked assassins cloaked and
killing the bad thing in my mouth

(the masters at work: Michelangelo, Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael)
(the masked assassins: Michelangelo, Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael)

eyes hovering just below the ufo
hazy and wide and glinting down
staring into my mouth
my breathing quickens
my lungs too quick for themselves

"you okay?"
he asks
voice muffled behind paper mask
well, no
what is okay, exactly?
(i can't exactly tell him i'm thinking about the ninja turtles wielding the needle soon to stab me)

so i nod
so he can hurry this along
no matter if water is slipping down my throat
(it's ok, some say we evolved from aquatic creatures)
no matter the burn in my jaw
the needle in my gums
piercing my soft skin. i did not give permission
(we never get that luxury, do we?)

the light so bright
the smell of sterile tools
drill drill
white walls
white ceiling
white man
tractor beams
take me away
no oxygen
outer space
no carbon dioxide
we are now the monkey alone in the space craft

no meaning to this
it will be over with
all of it
and for what?
a hole in my tooth?
filled
the bad thing
killed

but what if i am just as rotten?
just as in need of someone to fill the hole in
where am i to go for such a surgery?
not the dentist's office, that's for sure

-RB?

a/n: so i'm officially an adult now. thanks, i hate it.