Pantoum: Donovan Acuna

Twist and pull

“Ouch!” I said after biting into the candy.

What once was a sweet, buttery treat tasted coppery.

I didn’t recognize the blood at first.

I felt a quick pain then crimson trickling down

the lining of my throat pooling in my mouth.

My fingers investigated my pearly whites.

I flicked and pried around every crevice.

I winced then flinched once I found it and again

I felt a quick pain then crimson tickling down

So I swallowed the liquid copper, waiting . . .

For the truth behind my pain and the blood.

By waiting I mean running, frantically to mom.

My confusion or tears were funny to her.

I panicked when she reached inside my mouth

so she backed up and told me to twist and pull.

“Ouch!” I yelled as I did what she told me to.

I could not twist, let alone pull this tooth

out of my mouth, away from its home.

My tooth would be lonely and my mouth holey.

The pain was the main reason, that and blood.

I yelled for my mother, tears down my face.

She reached for the tooth startling me again

so she backed up and told me to twist and pull.

I mustered up some courage reaching

again for that wretched tooth I so hate.

Out of my mouth, away from its home

anywhere but in its cavity.

I twisted and pulled, feeling the pressure build

up in my tiny fingers pressed so tightly

aching for a tooth to be weeded out.