teeth

today it is some teeth.

life is like that
parts of us being taken
away at intervals

there will be days,
days of loss that
(corporal or not)
will leave a space
an ache, a phantom pain -

life takes its measure
and its token
for the privilege of
walking the road
of one's own desire

teeth; skin to asphalt,
emotional investment,
heartache, accidents,
the dull ache of an empty womb.
Death.

these
are the spaces
where the light
can get in

without loss
there
is
no
light