Thursday, July 13, 2017
The Strangeness in Her Smile
Greta nearly threatened Rupper with her
magic. Not much of a threat since it
mostly focused on insuring Good Luck.
He left anyway. Bearer of multitudinous
maladies, many real, he went to live
with his sister and brother, both single
physicians.
After a year’s hit and miss relationship,
Hinton moved into her condo. A Boeing
engineer, he laughed at any mention of
magic. “Doesn’t fly!”
To avoid his sarcasm, she kept her
various strategies to herself.
But he discovered the mildest. She had
found a bright penny many years ago
and kept it in her mailbox, sealed in
a transparent little bag such as
watch repairmen use for tiny screws.
He had a key to the mailbox and was
surprised to find it there, as he was
the reminders she wrote to herself.
“For mail, US Mail!” he spat. But
everyone in the condo association
had other uses for it too.
“Lax everything around here!” As if
such habits ruined the world all
by themselves.
Hinton gave her the identical, blessedly
compact, lecture he had given his mother.
"The Rational Is My Magic God!”
Overkill for her small ways.
She soon kept an internet printout
in the mailbox.
How to help your husband’s job reward
him without question.
No worry: written in a secret language.
The one spell there she preferred
translating into English.
Mostly because the last word,
Hullmists, had such agreeable
sibilance.
And if she lingered over the m,
too, a resonance that vibrated
her for hours.
A few month later, Hinton
announced his promotion.
“That’s because you know
literally everything!”
True enough, but her Mona Lisa
smile knew something also.
Labels: disorder, engineer, magic, Mona Lisa, order, rational
Tuesday, March 07, 2017
Deciding Limits
-Well! Then! The Great Decision!
-Made! Clean and clear. Measured
and thoughtful.
-How do you feel?
-Immensely relieved!
-The step before disaster.
-You're joking!
-Nope.
-What...more can I do?
-I always add a little prayer.
-Hocus-pocus Department?
-Just hedging the bet.
-I'll stay with rationality. Imperfect
as I am, and it, but...
-Too bad. The successful man or woman
hedges.
-They’re fooling themselves.
-We're all that, I’m guessing.
-I’m through with guessing!
-You guess?
Labels: decision, decision making, hedging, magic, Prayer, rationality
Saturday, October 22, 2016
The woman who counted in 3s
3, 6, 9, etc
seeming natural to her.
In adulthood she involved
herself in love triangles,
so a real-life corollary.
So many that she started
counting in 6s, then 9s.
When she reached 12s she
found the triple digits
awkward, then reasoned
that the 1 and 2 of 12
added to three, so she
could start over.
Which she did. Shedding
her third husband...just
a note.
“Anyway,” laughs she, “my
3s a way of handing life
with coherence.
Most have none.”
Labels: magic, math, math and life, method, numerology, organizing
Tuesday, September 13, 2016
Horses
-For your fiftieth birthday, I’m booking
the greatest magician ever!
-Will he disappear my angst?
-Better! He ends his act with a life-size
hologram of a horse! You ride it out!
-I can’t ride a hologram.
-You’re one too! He makes you one!
-I’ll take a real horse, thanks. Gallop away
from draining, and acutely real, Lenore!
-The lost Lenore?
-With any luck!
Labels: birthday, Fifty, hologram, horse, Lenore, magic, Poe, Raven
Friday, May 23, 2014
Wax and the Lady
It’s hard to address a waxy box. Nothing writes on it, and labels fall off.
Yet Maxine gave him 52 of all sizes for his birthday.
“No you can give me something every week of the year!” she crowed.
He consulted Standing Bear of the Utes.
Turned her into actual crow.
She’s missed, and he’d still like a word with her from time to time.
But no crows have answered yet, though one stole his watch from a picnic table. He had taken it off
to check his pulse.
Labels: birthday, crow, gift, magic
