wanna see my cards, baby?
2002-12-06, 9:50 p.m.
I found it in a little shop...
hidden down a long brick hall...
7 yards from the street...
an older black woman sits
on a broken chair behind the counter...
she sits as she has sat for as long as i've known her...
making magic out of glass and wooden beads...
you can barely see her there... behind the counter...
always leaning over some
tray of hemp and fishing line...
I saw it hanging there...
cheap black string...
bakelite charm with an archaic stick figure gouged
into its front...
i flipped it over and over and over in my hand...
scratched shakily in all caps...
in her hand:
"Love Charm: Attracts the love of the one you desire most"...
Perhaps this is all some strange coincidence...
a fleeting clash of
dark deep ellum alleyways...
an ephemeral flash of
the strobe light over her name...
but i'm taking my poker chips
and tossing them all on the table
this time.
last - next
