Mental Valentine

You know when you have to
Make yourself do something
You'd rather not do
In the x-rays my teeth
Looked like splayed fingers
Or tiny hooves running in clouds
Or a sprouting coral reef
One wearing a temporary crown
When you know it will all be unpleasant
But somehow needs to get done
I steady myself on the ladder
Of numbness setting out
To out-climb the pain
But the thing is already done
The grinding teeth like worn stones
And the ripping teeth like new blades