Blackbirdan online journal of literature and the artsFall 2017  Vol. 16 No. 2
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back JOY PRIEST

Spell to Reverse Loss of Memories

Watch me crackle to fruition as a digital
vision in your kitchen
at the start of spring.

Watch me manifest as a holographic
projectionwatch me fall through your dark room
like a corridor of light
help you learn your lesson—
help you get your issue—

 

I hope you get this hex &

O yes, the kettle water beginning to boil
will feel like a furious rain shower coming on &

O yes, that metal taste in your brew
my blood
my blood on your gums.

~

Make sure you speak when you see me
in the anteroom of sleep.

Make sure you show love when I come through
like light pollution.

 

Remember when you called the orange night sky a lie?

Remember when you said I gave you a marsupial vibe?

~

After I left the boat it was just you, Young, on the ancient water.

After you left the hotel room there were only the faint mountains
way at the back of the flat city.

Let me hold 50

for the morning after.

Let me hold—pfsshhh!

~

What about how long we remained
alive that night?

What about how you saw
the flesh petaled
kissed it there
like sunlight.

Made a salve
& was one

so miss me with that
artifice,

that wild smile
every tooth set
straight like a spark,

miss me.  


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