They say she sucked her thumb so long
her two front teeth not only bucked
but parted to make room for it.
In second grade
she still doesn't smile
with her mouth closed.
She'll be sorry.
She'll have to get braces
twice -- in fifth grade
she's really too young
and keeps putting her tongue
against the wires and breaking them
till the dentist gets upset
and yanks them off,
then again in eighth grade
but by then she just doesn't care.
She'll have eight teeth pulled
so they can push the others back
(four the first time, four the second)
and by the time she's twenty
all her other teeth will start to rot.
