Heaven was Robbed!
While I was walking to the computer this morning
I was thinking about a Christian Heaven
where the mythology of St. Peter at the Pearly Gates
(which are gold, according to cartoon art-rules)
but where Heaven has lost its investments
and an over-efficient administrator
replaced the gates to heaven with shining brass
studded with imitation pearls and rock crystal,...
... like how the elaborate interior walls of the Taj Mahal
used to be studded with real
emeralds, rubies, diamonds, sapphires, and tourmalines
traced with gold and silver
only to be pipped out by their new colonial overlords
(the British East India Trading Company executives)
and the gems replaced with semi-precious stones
(carnelians, onyx, lapis and quartz)
and the pure gold replaced with alloyed gold
before they gave the country of India
(as a gift)
to Victoria, Queen of England.
That's what my mouth feels like.
More precious gems prised out
replaced with a large acrylic filler
until my porcelain-fused-to-titaniums
can be installed with precision screwdrivers
after my bones heal.
The Pearly Gates
unguarded and hanging akimbo
with a hastily painted
"UNDER CONSTRUCTION" sign
on a salvaged plywood offcut
propped against the gape.
The damage is permanent
but the mess is temporary.
At least I can smile,
even if it is more lopsided,
AND more uncomfortable
than it was before the losses started,
so it goes....
... and goes.
At least I can smile unselfconsciously again,
and as I wrap my tongue around a personalized new hunk of plastic
that reshapes all my inner mouthspaces,
I will learn to speak again
unselfconsciously...
... which will be nice.
I was thinking about a Christian Heaven
where the mythology of St. Peter at the Pearly Gates
(which are gold, according to cartoon art-rules)
but where Heaven has lost its investments
and an over-efficient administrator
replaced the gates to heaven with shining brass
studded with imitation pearls and rock crystal,...
... like how the elaborate interior walls of the Taj Mahal
used to be studded with real
emeralds, rubies, diamonds, sapphires, and tourmalines
traced with gold and silver
only to be pipped out by their new colonial overlords
(the British East India Trading Company executives)
and the gems replaced with semi-precious stones
(carnelians, onyx, lapis and quartz)
and the pure gold replaced with alloyed gold
before they gave the country of India
(as a gift)
to Victoria, Queen of England.
That's what my mouth feels like.
More precious gems prised out
replaced with a large acrylic filler
until my porcelain-fused-to-titaniums
can be installed with precision screwdrivers
after my bones heal.
The Pearly Gates
unguarded and hanging akimbo
with a hastily painted
"UNDER CONSTRUCTION" sign
on a salvaged plywood offcut
propped against the gape.
The damage is permanent
but the mess is temporary.
At least I can smile,
even if it is more lopsided,
AND more uncomfortable
than it was before the losses started,
so it goes....
... and goes.
At least I can smile unselfconsciously again,
and as I wrap my tongue around a personalized new hunk of plastic
that reshapes all my inner mouthspaces,
I will learn to speak again
unselfconsciously...
... which will be nice.