My Daughter Gets Her Wisdom Teeth Extracted

← v18n1, Spring 2019

And the other woman in the waiting room is filing

her nails, methodically sweeping the emery

board until she has something just about perfect.

On the television: show where people assiduously

scour an outdoor flea market in hopes of finding rare

wonders. We are both watching it, both our mouths

agape, when the nail filer says, you really have to have

an imagination. I wonder if she means imagination

to be on the show or imagination to be alive.

family childhood memory body

Charlotte Matthews

Charlotte Matthews is the author of three collections of poetry: Whistle What Can’t Be Said (Unicorn Press, 2016), Still Enough to Be Dreaming (Iris Press, 2007), and Green Stars (Iris Press, 2005). Her work has appeared in Cave Wall , Chautauqua , and The Greensboro Review . She is also the recipient of fellowships from the Chautauqua Institute and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. Matthews earned a BA from the University of Virginia and an MFA from Warren Wilson College. She is an associate professor at the University of Virginia.