Magic Pattern

This is how you can make magic

Listen carefully

Because it’s not a secret

Take a cloth

Dye it BLACK

and GRAY

and WHITE

and PURPLE

In that order

Layered like a cake that tastes like true love

but better

than

sex

Yes, that's possible

It's part of the magic

Drape the cloth over you like a cloak; the first spell is invisibility

People won't even know what you are

Let alone know you exist

It works so well that sometimes

(a lot of the time)

they've never even heard of what you are.

Fold the cloth and hand it to someone; the second spell is confusion

Everything you say has a chance of sounding like nonsense

To the remaining 99% of the world

If this spell is really potent

You'll have to repeat the lecture

No less than three times

And even then...

Never mind

Tired of this part

Was since before I came out

Get to the next spell and get it over with

Hold the cloth out like a bullfighter's crimson muleta;

Unsure if this a transformation spell

or an enragement spell

For example, lets show it to the guy whose flirting with you

And is telling you

That you're the most

utterly

sublime

creature

ever.

Now he's asking who hurt you

Grilling you on all your partners, as if part of Cupid's Gestapo

and trying to zero in

on which partner

broke your heart so bad

and ruined you

No.

Broke you.

Because you're "broken"

And he promises that he can f**k you back together

Look at his eyes as he walks away

Staring you down as though you insulted everything from his god to his mama

But it's not just him

Sometimes the colorful sea of romantic freedom will do more than cover you

Sometimes

(too many times)

it will try to drown you

Fellow prejudiced lovers become gatekeepers

Who accuse you of stealing much-needed safe space

Even though

You (really) need to feel safe

In a world filled with tantric healers who want to "help" you

Whether you want to

or

very much

not

And you don't

You've been through this a million times

This is where the last spell comes in

It's the most important one of all

Wave the cloth

Perhaps it will signal to those who also swim technicolor waters

And are more accepting

than their exclusive brethren

And will help you not feel

like an outcast

amongst outcasts

That will make you cry when they say how valid you really are

Because you still have to remind yourself that you exist

Because the world is still trying to re-reprogram

Because you can find love without having to make it

Wave the cloth again

Maybe you can swat away all the signals that preach erotic gospel

Sex is the light – the way

It's worth laying your life down

It's so much a wonderful thing, its a sin

And don't worry if you don't want it; we've got fifty pills for that

(Cancer can be cured another day; God save us from a drought)

Don't fear your urges

Just fear if it they're not there

Wave the cloth again

And maybe

Just maybe

Someone will wave theirs back

Because this is the most important spell–

A love spell.