-Word Choice and Meaning-

She said he had an infectious smile
as if the take-over
were the only importance.
Sure, we all turned up our maws,
but did we fester? Invade?
Did we swell and pustulate?
I wonder if he really
had a six courses antibiotics smile.

I don’t tell her how
leavened bread
might not corrode her face.
It wouldn’t hurt to have
a jingle you hum
to the widening fog while
washing the dishes smile.
He might be more

worth her while if his
grin was a chocolate craving.
You could say his
simpers open a six pack
and put briquets on the grill.

It’s the headwaters of a spring
burbling away a swelter in August.
Or simply a woosh.

But she has already moved on
to jumping about pancakes
and hair follicles.
The infectious smile creepnumbing
my heels for amputation.