Love’s Teeth

Sink in soft to the flesh,

incisors through fresh baked

marshmallow. Always biting off

more than can be chewed

at once — an enduring bifurcation

of foolish optimism and a

voracious appetite to be

continually consumed.

The feast begins

at the mouth, delighting first

in the sweetest of pleasures.

Then working their way down

to the bones, to the tender marrow,

to the beating heart, until nothing

is left but fragmented remnants

of the people we were

before the first

delicious

bite.