The Artist

An artist pulls out all her teeth one  night, puts them under her pillow,  dreams of the tooth fairy. When she  wakes, she finds no money under her  pillow, though all her teeth are gone.  She worries she won’t make the rent.  She has no money. And no teeth. She  goes to the corner store, steals some  baby food. Carrots and peas. After  dinner, she starts sucking her thumb.  Can’t afford cigarettes. She puts herself  to bed, takes a nap. Upon waking, she  finds all her teeth have grown back,  big and strong. The better to eat meat  with, she thinks, quickly reminding  herself she’s a vegetarian. She;s an  artist so she; uses this recent experience;  the sense of loss she felt at having no  teeth, her loss of morality at stealing  those little jars of baby food, that quick  regression to her infantile oral fixation,  her inclination to eat meat, her  embittered Weltanschauung as a result  of that bastard of a tooth fairy; she  uses all this emotional upheaval and  resulting insight into humanity in her  art. Not only does she sell the work at  a very high price, she becomes famous  besides. The most intimate interview  reveals what inspires this famous artist  most is money.

from The Writing Spac Journal  by Debbie Fersht  

2 thoughts on “The Artist

Leave a Reply