With No Fractures Visible

The backhoe drills the street

as the dentist drills

teeth.

Amid noise

I somehow

drill on

the thought

of pain

of how much

it defines life

sprawling on the middle

of my palm

like indulgencias

earnestly hoping

to save

what might still

be saved.

New roads are expensive

but so are dentures.

And so we

excavate our

hardened scabs

to fill them with faith.

Anyway, we can cling on

anodyne

to finish the job

, anodyne priests

& pastors,

, anodyne pundits

& professors,

, anodyne pawns

& politicians,

, anodyne poems

& poets

For what we can only

promise

is that promises

are cheap.

And when nothing works

—illustrious extraction!

Traffic eases as the backhoe

ceases

And in the absence of

accompaniment

underneath my tooth

I hear

a throb

a heart.