My son stopped giving his teeth
to the tooth fairy
even though we said if he did
we’d give him two dollars
because his sister still believes in fairies
and we want to be fair
but he has kept the last few for himself
in a little container
which I didn’t think much of
until he asked me yesterday
mama, can I make a necklace out of my teeth
and it is as though this single question
ruptured the dam of all the strange
and unsolvable questions
my children have ever asked me
so that my rational mind
is suddenly flooded
and I can’t think of what to say
or what I even think about this question
until finally he breaks the silence
with a compromise
or just a pendant, maybe
which cracks open a drain below me
and the flood falls away
and I remember that, so often,
in the absurdity of parenting,
laughter is the only answer.