A POEM by YELDANA TALGATKYZY

THIS HALLOWEEN I'M DRESSING UP AS A TOOTH FAIRY

When I finally catch you,

I will eat your teeth first.

I will savor every crunch

and make a real spectacle

of your unusually short gums

and laugh with all my dentist friends

about how all your cavities

kind of have a phallic shape.

This is payback

for when you said

you would

without question

smash me with your

ugly grandpa boots

if I turned into a worm.

---

Yeldana Talgatkyzy (she/her) is from Astana, Kazakhstan. She is a junior at Williams College studying English and Psychology. Yeldana is looking for ways to obscure experience through writing. She is on IG at @yeld.t.