Four out of ten.
It isn’t much
pain

But the incessant throb
of aching jaws
can send one gagging in reflex.

Now suspended in limbo
I must watch –
hold my tongue.

And the latex
stretched taut as drums
cons my cheeks into painful
cramped smiles –

I’d turn my other
If you slapped my left
because I’m sorry
for these
cheesegraters.