Death Has Teeth, by Paige Caine

Cow's Skull with Calico Roses, by Georgia O'Keeffe (USA) 1931

Death Has Teeth

A sun bleached cow skull, picked clean of meat
adorned with white roses: cream and milk, 
as though     death                    were beautiful
as though death were              white
as though death were roses
on your skull     as he smashes your nose
like the fractured skull of this cow— 
no eyes            no tongue         only bone
and flowers. You can decorate death 
like this, dress him up in a       white veil or
plastic wrapped package and still he will be
painful               ugly                undignified when 
he comes for you, like the veteran now
receiving          sponge baths                in bed after he
shits himself.               Still he will be
dark       black             meaningless when
he comes for you, like the      void of outer space
you will      never                    have time to explore.
Still he will be         hurting                 empty              unknown
when he comes for you. Still you will be      afraid. ​

Paige Caine

Paige Caine is an undergraduate junior studying Creative Writing and Biology at Bucknell university in Pennsylvania, though she is originally from Maryland. ​