Gramps

Chris Bullard

backed us     from the dinner table
puffing     dentures past lips
click-clacking     false choppers
like a machine gun     strafing jungle.

Hard-edged predator      age an eon
said he’d snatch     our noses     float them
as trophies     in his bedside water glass
where he stashed     that removable grin.

We held ears against     their chatter
but images of blades     gnawed
through dreams     slivering     souls
of school pals     into sacrifice

for the old man     for all old men
the invincible teeth     striding away.

© Chris Bullard

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Chris Bullard is a native of Jacksonville, FL. He lives in Collingswood, NJ. He received his BA from the University of Pennsylvania and his MFA from Wilkes University. Kattywompus Press published his third chapbook, Dear Leatherface, in January of 2014. WordTech Editions published his second full-length book, Grand Canyon, in 2015. His work has appeared in Rattle, River Styx, Pleiades, Green Mountains Review, and other literary reviews.