Five of Swords

New Teeth
by Nkateko Masinga

After the trip that had you spiralling
from one manic episode to another,
we pledged to get help, together —

left our bed in the city dishevelled &
drove for what seemed like forever,
until a screech, that sobering halt —

pulled us apart, teeth from gums &
truth from the story we’d concocted:
from we’re fine to 3 weeks in rehab,

from we can stop any time we like
to this: your perfect mouth a bare
boulevard, an open road unmarked,

well, almost — your remaining teeth:
white vans veered off a curb of gums
like us that night, skidding to healing.

You have new teeth: porcelain veneers,
the hard enamel of a resilient mouth,
you say proudly as you tell this story.

Should I tell them that we lost more
than teeth in the accident? I will say,
I see this when I dream of that night:

a child running towards me, laughing,
mouth bare like his dad, pre-implants;
arms wide, hair & eyes just like mine.

Nkateko Masinga (she/her) is an award-winning South African poet and 2019 Fellow of the Ebedi International Writers Residency. She is currently the director of the Internship Program at Africa In Dialogue, an online interview magazine that archives creative and critical insights with Africa’s leading storytellers, as well as the founder and managing director of NSUKU Publishing Consultancy. She is the author of a digital chapbook titled the heart is a caged animal, published by Praxis Magazine. Her latest chapbook, psalm for chrysanthemums, has been selected by the African Poetry Book Fund and Akashic Books to be published in the 2020 New Generation African Poets chapbook box set.