It’s all there for free now, all there for her
swooping down in plain sight, in
broad daylight, hands out in hungry claws pulling
all those lovely teeth loose. No more need for

fancy hairdos, or sparkly
pink dresses, or even
the crystal scepter,  now that there are no more
insomniac children left to catch her in the act.
She can wear anything she
wants now, jeans, a t-shirt, a backwards baseball cap, a

food-splattered muumuu, or even nothing at all.
Nobody’s left to see her do her work, tugging
stubborn teeth free from blast-cleaned skulls
with a rusty set of pliers, a
string tied to an anvil, an old claw hammer.

It’s all there for free now. No more
dollars to leave for teeth. 

Holly Day was born in Hereford, Texas, “The Town Without a Toothache.” She and her family currently live in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where she teaches writing classes at the Loft Literary Center. Her published books include the nonfiction books Music Theory for Dummies, Music Composition for Dummies, Guitar All-in-One for Dummies, Piano All-in-One for Dummies, A Brief History of Nordeast Minneapolis; the poetry books Late-Night Reading for Hardworking Construction Men (The Moon Publishing) and The Smell of Snow (ELJ Publications); and a novel, The Book Of (Damnation Books).Her needlepoints and beadwork have recently appeared on the covers of The Grey Sparrow Journal, QWERTY Magazine, and Kiki Magazine.