When a smile
s  t  r  e  t  c  h  e  s
your mouth and
push                                                  pushes
your cheeks wide
it becomes altogether

TOO BIG

for your face and part of it
snaps
right
off
and flies across to another face
where it settles down and takes root
as if it were its own.

But that’s not the end of a smile, oh no –
because still
it grows

bigger
and BIGGER
And BIGGER

until…           SNAP
it leaves for another face.

This goes on
and on
until every face
is bright-eyed with smiles
and when that happens
the only thing left
and when that happens they…

openwideandgobbleupthefaces

laughing its heads off
as it does.

—
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Illustration courtesy and copyright of Jools Wilson. You can see her work over here.