Don’t Try This At
Home
by Ian Hunter
Heard in the limbo
of the waiting room
at Accident and
Emergency
from the excited
tones of two boys
It happened
It really did
That when old
Granny Mutchie
was a little girl
she was scared
to go to the
dentist
on account of the
drill
that killed her
big sister
but that's a
different story
This one is about
the awful
toothache she had
pain throbbing in
her jaw
making her cry
when she bit
anything
but still she
wouldn't see the dentist
In the end she
tied the tooth
to the door handle
Bribing her big
brothers
to pull the door
shut
as hard as they
could
So hard it yanked
her skeleton
out of her skin
making them run
away screaming
and now she lives
beside us
in the rundown
house
with the wilderness
garden
If you go there on
a dare
to ring her
doorbell
after an eternity
four boney fingers
will pull
back the lace
curtain
and her face
will make you
scream
that's what they
said
those two boys
***************
About the Poet: Ian Hunter is the author of three
children's books, one poetry collection, and various othersthings. He is also a
director of the Scottish Writer's collective called Read Raw, and the editor of
"Unspoken Water".You can find out more about him at www.ian-hunter.co.uk
About the Art: Tooth Fairy Necklace by Tory Byrne of the