Ode to Tin Snips

Scissors with an overbite, blades like quotation marks devouring the text — some lost codex from the Aluminum Age — & leaving in its place a jagged rent: massively buck-toothed myself, I know how elusive a clean break can be. Despite what orthodontists would have us think, a naturally straight bite is a rare thing. Most of us learn early how to compensate, squaring the circle, holding our heads over whatever plate, baring our lips in the inevitable tin grin.