Dental Discourse
She could not stand the sad sad sight
of his horrendous overbite.
She arranged to take him to a
dentist, thinking he could do a
makeover.
She asked the doc what he would charge
to make his overhang less large.
The price he set to make each tooth less
was, I fear, greedy and ruthless
overkill.
Thus began their drawn-out dicker
that I think would have gone quicker
if his teeth had been less icky,
and the job a much less tricky
overhaul.
After much talk, they struck a deal,
both thinking that they’d made a steal.
But then with little else to do,
she said if he attempted to
overcharge,
she would have his license lifted
no matter how bloody gifted
he might have been (when this all ends)
at cutting down her toothy friend’s
hangover.
For dVerse Poets prompt: Compound Word Verse Image by Diana Polekhina on Unsplash
This form consists of 5 five-line stanzas with aabb rhyme schemes, each containing 8 syllables and each stanza concluding with a three-syllable compound word that had one element the same as all other compound words in the final lines of the stanzas. Phew!
lifelessons - a blog by Judy Dykstra-Brown 
Clever use of your chosen word, and amusing too: I would say it made me smile, but the thought of those dental bills is frightening!
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This one was a workout. I think I’ve earned a good night’s sleep.
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Yes Judy – here in the USofA we have no legal ceiling on what the dentistry industry can charge. It can be most sobering when one gets a dental bill. It’s enough yo make you want to pull your teeth out… 🥴
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All things “Dental” … terrify me. I enjoyed your poetry however!
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Hi Judy! The form actually calls for a 5 of the 3 line verse, so a total of 15 lines total. I think you are an overachiever and did 25 lines. As to the poem, I hope it all ends well with the tooth.
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5 stanzas of 4 rhymed lines (2 rhymed couplets) and the compound word , five times 5 being 25. That’s what it was in the example.
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Mea Culpa… I see that you are right but swear that I got directed to it by someone who had 5 stanzas of 2 rhymed couplets and the compound word! I even copied the directions from it…I must track down what happened. At any rate, I was punished with twice the work! ;o)
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Phew! is correct. I understood the stanzas to be 3 lines (aab) but I used my compound words in the 883 portion of the poem instead of at the end! Your stanza are nicely done nevertheless.
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Dental bills can be quite arresting. Thankfully we have some caps on how much you may charge (but the gold you have to pay yourself.)
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I just found a little bag with several teeth in it with gold caps. One I know is gold given to me by my dentist but I think the others are from a dentist friend I made a dental retablo for. I know it sounds grisly, but she gave me some teeth to include in it. I just couldn’t use the human ones, but she told me to keep them. With the price of gold and silver being what it is, I guess I should try to cash them in..ha.
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At least here, selling dentist gold is very easy and quick. Usually it has a high quality (pure)
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No pun intended about the “caps?”
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Ha… yes there is a cap both on caps and roots.
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That sound you hear is my toothy laugh, a bit hysterical because overcharge is what dentists do!
pax,
dora
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Very clever!
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