Inner Teeth

Inside myself, I find
People, near and known
Few misshapen
Some stained
As bad teeth
Needing brushing
Everyday

To be used
To eat —
A few hanging
In sockets — achingly —
In gaps left
From the fallen
Some, pulled out —

Few extracted
Painfully — laboriously
Grudgingly
Loosened, few stand
Still with some
Utility

Few still
Stubborn, crooked
Distant —
No bite
Unseen, indifferent
Just rooted, felt
Stuck

In their
Individual
Elementality