Toothache Poem by Kamiel Choi

After all has been tried she
refuses to go away. I faint
in the distance, beyond despair

I hate being here, I hate being alive
like this. All the suffering
of the world seems directly plugged
into the sockets of my rotting teeth

'Then go to the dentist! ' is a friendly friend's advice
I sit in a dentist chair every week, for a year
On it, I spent all the money I make with the job I hate
you can't even begin to understand what it means

What it means? To me, everything revolves around her
I wake up with toothache and I go to bed with her
When I contemplate suicide she looks over my shoulders

I want to vomit my nervous system into a cold puddle
and pray it will dissolve into the black night