The Spell
Paul Cordeiro
Raised on the ragged beauty
and chaos of the Sixties, Vietnam,
torn bell bottoms, naked limbs, and long hair
stuck with utopian mud that the seventies
disco dance party washed off.
Raised on the sugar water spell.
Swallowed down with Mao, Rolling Stones
and Beatles, studio sounds, cupcakes, canned soup,
Nixon, violence in the streets, cartoons, moon walks,
and advertising jingles for colas.
Nobody ever died watching the spell's flashes.
Nobody ever grew up to leave the spell alone.
Bank on the toys the spell puts
under the tree at Christmas.
The families the spell
destroys when it makes
the inhabitants fight a losing war
against unhealthy images inside a house.
