I lost a tooth
in a high school 
wrestling match
in 1991

It happened
all too quick

a kid’s elbow
t-boned my 
jawline 

and my tooth just 
popped out

everybody gasped

everybody covered their mouths 
the ref
my coach
the kid I was wrestling
the grandmother in the stands
the mouse under the bleachers 

they all stared at my
poor tooth 
just sitting 
right on the mat

looking up at me like
I had just betrayed it

like I had evicted it
for not paying rent 

then I started to
bleed

slow and steady 
like a vampires version
Of maple syrup 

the match was postponed 
for ten...

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