Extraction

It’s at moments like these a man faces his mortality
Smokes that last cigarette to settle his nerves
A prisoner facing the masked man who’ll wield the blade
In his head the worm singing, This is the end, my only friend

Do you want to watch what I’m doing? he asks
Swinging a mirror into position above me
My mouth already jammed with cotton rolls
I shake my head and close my eyes
Wondering if I’ll be able to breathe
The panic slowly working its way to the surface
Like the tooth he’s discovered
Growing slowly upward above the roof of my mouth
Worming its way on a path toward my nose

Okay, he says, swinging it away
Tells me that many people like to watch
The first needle sliding in and the numbing coming
Another injection and another, and another
Making me feel as if my mouth has disappeared
All the way up to my tingling nose going away as well

I close my eyes as the scalpel makes its shiny way in
Feel a little bump, bump, bump
As he severs the flesh between each tooth
Then peels back the top layer of skin to expose
The boney plain that lies beneath the errant tooth
Snailing its way toward my sinuses

The drill hums to life and he exerts upward pressure
I hear the grind and smell burning bone
Open my eyes and see the bloody mess being sucked away
Collecting in a clear bottle hanging beside the chair
I try to breathe, but find it hard to catch my breath

The song of the bit dies away after eons
And the hammer and chisel jump in to take their turn
Breaking the tooth into several smaller pieces
I wonder why he can’t take it all at once

That’s it, he announces, several lifetimes later
Tells me how the bone should grow back easily
While he sews my mouth roof flesh back in place

Would you like to see the tooth, he asks
To which I shake my head and groan
I’d only like a cigarette to signify I’m still alive