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Nicknames Given to My Father’s Teeth Starting with Quadrant 1 Upper Right Third Molar

Hill of dirty snow.
Trap for roaming bread.
Broken Wrench.
Nosey Neighbor.
The Swallowed.
Package opener.
1/8 Smile.
Black market antibiotic port of call.
A theoretical experiment in chewing.
The Government.
Gift laid at the altar.
“No, you cannot keep it.”
Lost.
Zirconium Bouncer.
A pitch red mass.
A sweet treat hidden under one roof.

The One Who Remains: Parts, Two.
The Great Divorce of 2002.
Crags of What Remains.
The One Who Remained Whole.
Please sign the waiver for care.
The Dark Crystal.
Can’t use for identification.
The Explosion at ProTire.
Dark Diastema.
Replaced.
Can you feel that?
Missing.
Calcified salt to simulate preservation.
The Almost Replaced.
The Never Replaced.
Gone.


Michael VanCalbergh  (Bluesky: @mvcpoet.bsky.social) currently lives in Normal, IL. His work has recently appeared in, or is forthcoming from, Puerto del Sol, Penumbric, Little Engines, Golgonooza Collective, and many other spaces. He is an editor at SRPR and writes about reading, writing, and books on his website Widely Read (https://widely-read.ghost.io/). His favorite sweet: currently anything with black cherry in it. Usually anything savory.

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