When the gargoyles and the crows look down on you,

plotting from the tops of stormy buildings,

lightning at their backs,

lightning across their faces,

and don’t smile, even for a minute.

You’ll need more magnets,

despite this backdrop.

more jazz,

more superpower,

to equalize, to subsidize, to oxidize.

If not only to divide,

that backdrop…

those angels,

You’ll need to unsubscribe from all your other email lists,

To cash the check and forget about the relentless guitar solos..

to even come close to matching the colors that make up the horizon and then some,,,

This is a no spare change situation.

This is what maximum velocity feels like.

Admit to yourself,

that you did indeed lose the board game and all then pieces to it.

You’ll need more magnetism for that.

You’ll head to the gallows for that.

You’ll need more silver than I currently have available, for that .

You’ll also need extra game pieces which I do not possess.

You’ll need more magnets , but that’s you’re cross to bear.

Ships passing relentlessly in the night, and for what?

Bullet proof vests on before you get out , and for what?

To storm the castle?

Be brave enough to be a magician, and be brave enough to brace yourself for the impact,

our impact.

Be brave enough to become a phantasm, instead.

The audience will tell you if you need to stay on the stage, from the tops of their stormy buildings ,

their backdrops,

their angels.

Just like the black crows and those gray gargoyles from before ,

they’ll tell you if you can be a successful magician, and what to do with your cape, too.

And what to do with the rest of your magnets, too.

Where to store them and how to label them so they don’t end up lost.

But not if your already a phantasm they cant,

not with the lighting already streaking across your face, they can’t ,

Not without cobalt , and the incoming sun at your back , they can’t

Not if you bleed magenta, they can’t.

(Originally published on Medium on 10/02/2021 by Matthew Hopkins)