Sweet dreams
Night cloys like warm margarine
the ceiling fan’s churning.
Spread out on top of the sheets
- a gingerbread biscuit at Regulo 6 -
I’m melting into semi-sleep dreams:
a fork slices islands off Cornish
ice-cream;
my liver aches
as if impaled on a rib;
I’m baking
fairy cakes: the oven yawns
as I depress the tongue door,
a waft of baby-sweet breath
scalds my corneas.
Prodding around
in the dimly-lit mouth, I check
whether ivory crowns have broken
through gummed paper cases.
Neat rows of teeth, stained by the heat,
are getting old by the minute.
Removing the tray like a plate
of plaqued dentures, I pick off each cake
one by one, with red fingers. Later,
when cool and ready to eat, the teeth
come out clean from white sockets.
Smelling vanilla, I dream of cream
enamel placed under my pillow
and waking up
to find the fairies have left me
a sixpence the silver of fillings.
Page(s) 16
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