Bring me the gift of loss—
baby teeth, big girl teeth
this dead old molar, done
chewing down years, rootless,
separated from the body
surrendered to silk-sack departures—
mother, father, lovers, husbands, friends
this house, that job, the accumulations
and cost of having.
Teach me to put youth, beauty
fire, fury, gutting want
under the pillow.
Tooth Fairy
Catherine Arra is the author of four full-length poetry collections and four chapbooks. Recent work appears in Anti-Heroin Chic, Unbroken, Impspired, Poetica Review, Piker Press, Rat’s Ass Review, and Unleash Lit. Arra is a native of the Hudson Valley in upstate New York, where she lives with wildlife and changing seasons until winter when she migrates to the Space Coast of Florida. Arra teaches part-time and facilitates local writing groups. Find her at www.catherinearra.com