Supervillains Take Inspiration From Dentists
Octopus-chair embrace:
Countless arms, pulleys,
Little spouts shooting water,
And trays for a multitude
Of mean looking tools.
For half an hour I’m tangled,
Prone under harsh light,
Saved only by some
Nifty glasses and
Meditative breathing.
Between 6 & 7 I hear
The radio bleat the news,
News of demagogues and
Untold misery erupting
From every fissure.
Her concentration astounds me.
Between 8 & 9 I wonder
What my teeth will be worth
When found scattered among
The flowers that fill
The streets we left behind.
It’s hard to smile with the vacuum
And your fingers but I try,
Only managing to shuffle the tongue
Now pressed against your thumb.
It’s fairly awkward.
How differently we must see the mouth,
How differently we must see life!
Spending all day mining plaque
And spooning tongues
Seems like the sort of thing
With the potential to jade a person.
Maximilian Bowden is twenty one, studying literature at the University of Essex. He is going into his third year in September. He has more work on the Humans and Nature blog, Ink in Thirds and Clockwise Cat.