On Nuuanu Avenue in Honolulu

by Brian Doyle

While clutching my own tooth in my hand like a best man
Grips a wedding ring so tightly his fist hurts for days after,
I encounter a man who confides he is the Incarnated Spirit
Of Admiral Chester Nimitz. I ask him where is the dentist?
Is an excellent Japanese dentist on Punahou Street, he says.
I start to shuffle away, because I am holding my own tooth!
My head is falling apart! Pieces of me are fleeing the ship!!
But the man falls into step with me and says most earnestly
You attend to me now, sir, please. I am the admiral restored
To this life, in the very city where I am held in most esteem.
There is a grade school named for me here. This pleases me.
And a yoga parlor and a highway. This pleases me. Yes, yes.
Punahou Street is not far; aim that way. Tell them I sent you.
My name is still magic in these streets; you will see this, yes.
Is that your real tooth? Why are you carrying it in the street?
Is there magic in it? Would you like to sell it to me? Miracle
Things come in every size package; there is me, for instance.
By now we have arrived at the dentist, and the Admiral sails
On alone down the street. I ask the genteel dentist about him.
O yes, Admiral Nimitz, courteous man, we pulled his molars,
Says the dentist. Refused anesthesia and never made a sound.
He said certainly some of the men who served under him had
Had the same painful experience and he would do as they did.
Very courteous man, carried himself with remarkable dignity.
But that’s what we would expect of a man who made admiral,
Yes? Now to work. Are you carrying any other of your teeth?