One Picture of Me

 

I have a problem with my teeth and gums in the upper front teeth area. An oral and facial surgeon in Vancouver, Dr. Verschueren, examined me and took XRays of the area (shown above). He thinks it is a benign cyst that should be removed in late March.

Seeing the inside of my face, for the first time, I was startled, amazed, and humbled. Also, a fear of something serious has unsettled me.

47.

One Picture of Me

This bony skull of mine
electrified
pictured onscreen for me.
     Doctor recommends
     some oral surgery.

The brain disappeared,
an empty space
sliced from
XRay images retraced.
Eyeless in inner space.

Monkey nose holes,
bony eye glasses,
teeth glowing in the dark.
     Inner spaces never seen
     underneath our very being.

Skinless, noseless, earless,
a shape, a form—
     the images informed.
Stripping away the unneeded,
revealing an inner core.

Bundled Up: Tanka Poetry by Mike Garofalo