: incantation to take away the pain :

For Maggie

on the floor of my living room we complain : we have no coven : throw crystals on the carpet

from a wooden box : citrine for safety : rose quartz for love : amethyst rolls : under the coffee

table : we grab at it with our painted toes : wonder if it is better to sew a pocket in our jackets :

above our hearts or keep them : safe in our bras : where they grow warm : sticky with sweat bite

: into our secretive : skin our soft underbellies : our eyes burn from staring : too long at the sky :

looking : for shapes in the clouds : our hands become shields catch : not enough : wayward rays :

but here : in this place : we keep the lights low : make jokes about candle sticks : haunt : like

ghosts in white : night gowns : perform exorcisms on ourselves : i say to you in desperation : i

cannot read the lines on your palm cannot read : my own mind : have no skills for divination :

tarot cards : scatter : the nine of swords : maybe i never knew : language : never matured beyond

reading faces : note the slant of your eyes : slight shake : of your hands piled with rings : wet

scent of patchouli : i wish i could give you a chair instead of the floor : ambrosia instead of

lukewarm coffee : all the colors that coalesce in the sky : when you drive : out of town for the

last time : when the blues : pinks : oranges come out for a full show : just for you friend just : for

you i would bottle that show : use all the magic i have : cork it : put it on a silk thread : to wear

around your neck soft : & thin as a bird’s : i’m sorry : i can’t : sorry : all i have for you are these

words