TOO MANY TOOTHS AND TWO LITTLE TRUTHS

I pulled the tooth out of the compost
pile, not because I had to, but because
it was there, I had to. I imagined
it was the tooth of a dinosaur.

The compost pile smelled
like a compost pile.

The tooth smelled
like a compost pile.

Every year or two I wonder
why I pulled the tooth out.

I never wonder how it got there in the first place.

Five or six years ago I lost the tooth.
By which, I mean, I flushed it down the toilet.

I flushed it down the toilet because I was afraid
that if I simply threw it in the trash,
I would dig it back out.

The trash smelled like compost.
The toilet smelled like toilet.
The tooth is gone forever.
The compost is now a garden
Dying it's fall death.