No clichéd eye of newt for me
no toe of frog
passé spells expired long ago
worthless in today’s wired world
no abracadabras
with wobbling memories
of childhood, hands waving,
wanting to believe we could
float a quarter in the air
or turn the teacher into a toad

No, not me, bank account bleeding
email stuffed with spam, no hits on
Silver Singles or Zoosk
matching millions, find your soulmate
time to get serious
straighten out my limping life
a Zoom call with Madame Charcot
who promises money back success
             pair of air pods, tail of cyclone
             lisp of liars, hum of drone
             bullets on a bed of moss
             shale gas in a socket of loss

Several thousand dollars later
magic is not on my side
Madame Charcot disappeared poof!
website taken down
I am applying to be a fulfillment angel
at Amazon, a wizard at Trader Joe’s
sweating and lifting for eight
strung out hours, all the while
chanting wool of bat and tongue of dog
hoping stale spells still have a few sparks left