Hungry Little Men
When I arise I go and brush my teeth.
This provides them with a little gloss,
After which I plunk the cord and floss,
Make of moue a dazzling dental wreath.
Now I’m told it’s even rather smart.
Inflammation drops down close to nil.
LDL? Forget it. Chuck the pill.
Oral hygiene benefits the heart.
C-reactive protein—there’s the thing.
If it’s low, then you no longer take
a viscous body blow from eating steak,
nor from anything that’s à la king.
Bottom line: the past is wrong again.
Save us. We are hungry little men.
Fired from Hallmark for writing meaningful greeting-card verse, Fred Yannantuono has published 334 poems in 85 journals in 30 states. He had work nominated for a Pushcart prize in 2006 and 2013. His book, A Boilermaker for the Lady, which can be browsed on Amazon, has been banned in France, Latvia, and the Orkney Isles. To Idi Amin I’m a Idiot—and Other Palindromes is due out in 2014, followed by a second book of poems, I Hate to Second-Guess Myself, or Do I? He was recently Poet of the Week in Light. He hasn’t been arrested in 17 months, and caught bluefish nude in Ocean City, Maryland, in 1971.