If
If “alignment of jaws and teeth” is set by
“use [of] cutlery during formative years,”
orthodontics is sisyphean. I’m unhappy
more than I’ll admit, but what’s to blame?
What knife and fork cut up the information
fed me, shaping my mind’s jaws and teeth
to bite misaligned, and reinforced in
misalignment by tools I’ve had to use?
Our ancestors tore food with incisors,
avoiding the overbite cut meat encourages,
that top-teeth smile regarded as beautiful.
Beauty’s shaped by what we learn to expect.
I sat in the chair, pinned there by lamplight
limning …
