the seven-year-old calls my mother and tells her

his tooth is on the edge of falling out.

his father says let's pull it out right away

while his mother says let it be, eat normally

and it'll fall when it wants to.

are you afraid of the pain?

no, he says. i'm afraid that i'll swallow

the tooth when asleep and it'd get planted

in my belly and sprout into a tree of teeth.

then all the old people will come to me and beg

for teeth but i only have a few teeth on my tree.

how will i know who deserves my teeth and who doesn't?

after a pause he resolves to let his father pull it out.

next day he calls again and says the tooth is on the other side

of falling out. my mother says, if you keep it under your pillow

and make a wish then— he stops her, i'm not a kid

i know wishes don't come true like that, i already threw it out.

~ ajay

1/8/2022