and i plant daffodils
to remind myself it's spring
but also to show my neighbors 
that i know about the color yellow
and that there is still a corner of me
that has smile teeth.

you tell me with my old face
my crooked was more visible
and in the horizon my blue retainer
dips like a memory 
of a different face i'll never have.

i wonder what the house is for.
what my teeth are for
if i smile for you and i eat for you
and i tuck yellow under my tongue for you.

pull them out and plant
them in the dirt for the worms
to make sense of. i smile to let
all the yellow out. pick the daffodils
and smash the petals 
in my fingers

before saying i'm sorry daffodils
i took this all out on you.
i never wanted to own a house.
i buried the blue retainer
maybe in someone else's mouth.