MALEFICARUM ❋ John Leo

—from Alex Dimitrov

alex says if poetry don’t feel like a spell it ain’t
really poetry. i been grinding
virgins’ eyes, fingerbones of living
frogs in a secondhand chrome cauldron.
whooshing vapors of coriander, tar,
a splinter plucked from my very own throat.
i brew love potions because i’m thirsty.

i been getting high on my own stash.
every morning i gargle this ol’ tincture and stare
in the mirror. the manual says i got to love myself,
but when i jerk off the spell breaks and i don’t
love myself no more. back to the garden
for mandrake and pinfeathers from a dark bird.

i say alex what’s a guy gotta do? he says
man the stars gotta be right also. Pleiades
in ascension, Ursa bellowing over Ararat.
get the fuck off twitter. take a melatonin.
cool out. ever smoke weed and think about your childhood?
give it a try. shit is gas.