when the bottoms come in

his new teeth
look like real teeth,
he half smiles to show you.
next month
with another check,
if the fish
bite, he'll get the bottoms too.
together,
he says, he'll eat again,
done with soup,
done with canned
meat and tuna.
done with
oats and soft bread.
steak, he says. his blue eyes
no longer
sea grey
but actually blue, blue like
the sky,
like a bird.
like hope.
steak. i'll have steak,
he says,
when the bottoms come in.