Baby Teeth by Charles Rafferty

O misshapen pearls, O pebbles from the human brook, I summon the rusty taste of you, the pleasure of twisting. You were the first lesson in how nothing lasts, but no one paid attention. Pillow by pillow, we gathered your coins. Whatever we purchased is also gone.

Charles Rafferty‘s most recent collection of poems is The Smoke of Horses (BOA Editions, 2017). His poems have appeared in The New Yorker, O, Oprah Magazine, Prairie Schooner, The Southern Review, and Ploughshares.

photo by Steve Johnson