tooth gay

a dentist lives in a tiny cage
in the corner of my bedroom
where he teaches me
about decay. i feed him 
newspaper & spearmint. there are 
metal devices for excavating 
all the gravel from between
canines. dogs are running 
back & forth across the moon again.
pillow pulled over my face.
i saw another many yesterday 
with his own teeth for earrings
& i wanted to sleep with him.
saying, "open up your mouth
i want to see craters."
comets are just the teeth of gods
or else something important
is falling apart & losing its pieces.
a metal knot once fell
out from beneath my car 
& i tossed it into the bushes.
the rocket ship i refuse to fire up.
i want perfection & i'm willing
to pull each tooth out of my skull.
i'm asking what it means 
to save the pieces of our bodies.
jar of teeth on the shelf. 
necklace of teeth. the dentist promises 
he'll chew his way out
if i don't release him. 
i laugh because i know
he won't actually do it. 
all talk & more talk. i want to know
if he has a lover but instead
i put at tarp over his container
so i can worry about that tomorrow.
what are you gleefully 
putting off? i find a mirror 
& decide which tooth i would like
to gift the man. ask it nicely
to become a beetle & crawl out
onto my palm. good tooth. good tooth.
it listens. i put it in 
a ring box. will you populate 
a skull with me? that's how
i'll ask. picture flowers bursting
from every corner of bone.
i want to be one of 
the worshippers of bone. 
to one day carry all my teeth in hand
as tokens for the afterlife.
i'll see the other many there.
he will also be ready.