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Love Mojo Gone Wrong

It's an easy mojo to tag upon your man

(albeit in a red flannel bag in your boot):

write his name nine times in blood ink and

twine with his hair about a John the Conqueror root

sprinkle on pure Come To Me Stay With Me Oil

you might add a Queen Elizabeth root to be sure

but if there's a shift in spelling a vowel unsteady

or your handwriting drifts or gets rough

you might have two besotted Smiths at the ready

worse...an entire male generation in the buff

counter mojo: use Chase Away Oil erase names

Love Potion Number 9.5

Besides dosing with both eyes of newt

and a big pinch of Ma's Organic Loveroot

the dead-giveaway clue that you've wibbletated

the brew in the alchemist's laundry room

is how anything it even lightly touches

discolors like a lovebite from a vacuum

and you're left stalking cute cops cute perps

or their no-so-cute vics inside the chalk lines

you're just outright kissing frogs or

dog-licking moms on 34th & Vine

full remedy: take two regretamine

Love Wish Voodoo Marks

With a doll—there's a cross of swamp oak inside

and the tear-soaked stuffing of Spanish moss

the pins only affix and direct the slow hex

like the Xs on the tomb of Marie Laveau

with her mausoleum—you place a pattern

you can't just deface it any which way

three red marks in St. Louis Cemetery

then she grants a love wish a bit of fun

but should you pin or X a forbidden spot

you might reverse the structure of your plot

the re-reversal: a kiss on Bayou Loup-garou




Robert Frazier is the author of eight previous books of poetry, and a three-time winner of the Rhysling Award for poetry. He has won an Asimov's Reader Award and been on the final ballot for a Nebula Award for fiction. His books include Perception BarriersThe Daily Chernobyl, and Phantom Navigation (2012). His 2002 poem "A Crash Course in Lemon Physics" was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Recent works have appeared in Asimov's Science Fiction, Dreams & Nightmares, and Strange Horizons. His long poem "Wreck-Diving the Starship" was a runner-up for a 2011 Rhysling Award. He can be reached by email at raf@nantucket.net.
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