Look Ma, no cavities - Michener Museum / Poem: Red Tongue

The Holy Trinity of Venneri Dentists on County Line Road, Hatboro, PA. I started off by seeing the father, A. Amerigo Venneri, now I see his son, Dr. Joe, on the right. Boyfriend Scott sees Dr Doreen on the left.

During my six-month cleaning today, Doreen stopped in. I told her she did a great job on Scott and he was able to go to work that nite.

Many people get nervous in the chair. Doreen advised my boyfriend - who, as a kid, used to fight other kids who called him bad names cuz he's Jewish like me - to take 5 mg of Valium before his appt.

He's terrified of being in the chair. I told him to take half the Valium, which he did. Previously I blogged about his 2-hour appointment.

My cleaning appt today, which took 40 minutes, was made much easier b/c I askedthe hygienist Tracy to talk to me to help the time pass quickly. A good storyteller, she talked about how she met her future husband when was a student at Jefferson downtown.

A blind date set up by her roommate. She thot they'd get along b/c they were both Lutheran.

When Dr Joe came in to check me over, I decided to ask him a question.

"I was with a physician friend yesterday," I said. "He said that dentists have the highest suicide rate."

Why is that, I asked and dyou know anyone who killed himself.

He knew a physician in Erie, PA, who he used to play golf with. A few days after their golf game, the family man dentist shot himself to death.

"I suppose," he said, "it's b/c people don't like dentists and think we're mean b/c we inflict pain on them."

"We don't have to worry about you," I said. "You're always in a good mood."

"Eating makes me happy," he said.

Me too! All the serotonin flowing thru our bodies.

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At Ada's Outing yesterday, we went to the Michener Museum in Doylestown. Always a treat, no matter what exhibit is there.

One of the many paintings by Mavis Smith.

We loved the Mavis Smith art exhibit. Mavis, 54, actually lives nearby in Solebury. She uses egg tempura to paint, a technique used since 1 AD. In the Renaissance, oil painting superseded it.

I always love the hand-made wooden furniture they have. In fact, a chair by master woodworker Robert Whitley (b. 1924) reclines on my refrigerator. He also did the table and chairs in the Board Room.

I told Tracy, the teethcleaner, that she and her husband, who live right next door to the Joe Venneri family, should visit the Michener to see the b'ful furniture. Her husband is a cabinet-maker.

Portrait of the late master furniture maker George Katsutoshi Nakashima (Japanese: 中島勝寿 1905 – 1990), interned during WW2. His studio in New Hope is now run by his daughter.



The Nakashima Reading Room at the Michener.

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Believe it or not, I did write a poem about my teeth. Dr Joe doesn't pull teeth so he sent me to a buddy of his, Dave, whose last name I can't remember. I won third prize for the poem from the Montco Community College Writer's Contest.

Lemme run upstairs and find it.

RED TONGUE
master of the mouth
sneak around
snake o' my mouth.

Check thy subservient teeth
keep us clean
shining
free of all harm,
red tongue
the snake.

It was You
wasn't it
who coiled 'round the tree
tempting Eve
and causing all harm
on this endless scurrying plain
pitiless red tongue

At peace
by night
you rest yourself
in the middle of your harem
we surround you
with love,
our master,
nothing but love

Our roots are alive and tender
green as bamboo shoots
imprisoned in white porcelain urns
for all time
darkness mostly
o show us the light
master tongue

Who will you favor tonight
Which of us will you come to
to loll with and spread your wide generosity across us
a little poke, a little caress,
whic of the thirty two
will you lie with

Choose me, tonight, master tongue,
Choose and cuddle me,
And I
will be
thy girl.