Behind the Smile

In this suburb,
which steps smartly
up the side of a hill,
I find myself being
a kind of peripatetic dentist,
gawping and mawing -
     these big uncovered windows 
     more like mouths than eyes.

One home displays
two elegant dining tables
one for east and one for west
each pristinely bare
      - this is not the place for fillings,
         such unsightly clutter

the walls too
   are largely empty
   emptily large
no paintings to frame
no taste for outsiders to judge 
with subjective certainty

Does anybody actually live here?
    Perhaps they've burrowed in -
    enshrouding themselves -
 a rumpled nook of glossless furniture
     a comfortable plaque of clutter
    hidden at the back

gladly shedding the need
for Colgate smiles.