A poem a day in April from Rutgers English PhD students and friends.

Friday, April 3, 2015

Spell for Actualizing Art

the thing of it is
here's the thing

fuck the gift
turn the microphone on

I saved the phrase
'poison-dart look'

when you dyed your hair dark
I missed you

when you put your hair in the light of the moon

   coffee
   music w/ soul of a woman
   take a piece of hair
   wind it with red yarn
   bind the cards (w/ hair & yarn)
   select appropriate crystal(s)
   cleanse in cold water & good intentions (or sage smoke)
   place on cards in moonlight
   preferably at bedside

If you were a child with free time
think of what you'd make
need not be material
(conversation)
or language
(beats on the wall)

Now be that kid's cool art teacher
and design an assignment
adapting past to future

List all the anachronisms

Begin to mix ingredients

5 comments:

  1. extremely good spells so far! this is the thing where someone knows enough about a culture/world/practice that they can write really good poems about it. Like you already know the language of spells so you can write your own spells that will really work!!!

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  2. I agree with Caolan! And I like thinking about designing an art project that little me would have been excited to make, imagining (best I could) my future work.. Also I love how sage smoke can substitute for cold water + good intentions, in case I don't have those things.

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  3. That "adapting past to future" assignment works on multiple levels, I'll bet . . . Love this.

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  4. Thank you, friends! I'm glad it looks like I know the language of spells, since I felt like I was just slipping into the language of poetry/pedagogy. (But, okay, trying to mix them all up.) So far these poems are mostly pilfered -- it's amazing what you learn when you start asking people what kind of spell they'd like, and grill them on the details on their rituals!

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  5. #realhousewivesofbohemia ! I'm brainstorming ideas for spells...

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