• We extrapolate that we needed these teeth, once.
    We needed bones erupting through our gums,
    needed to worry the sore spots with our tongue,
    using all the fervid frustration of teenage masturbation.
    We learned such sympathy for babies
    and jealousy of unsexed virgins.

    Our prehistoric parents had the wherewithal to endure
    constant aches, the fortitude to keep on truckin'.
    I am not so hardy.
    I need my pink pills, popped every hour.
    My lifestyle hasn't worn me down enough
    to fit you in comfortably.
    The pressure is doing a number on my health.

    Even so, I argue with the doctor and my mother,
    claiming,
    I need you,
    despite all evidence to the contrary.
    I need the wisdom they all do without.
    We thought it worth the pain, once.