“Impaired Vision” © Warren Muzak

 

How Our Town Reacts to Magic

Today’s magic is not the way
we made it. This new magic

has no code. Instead, magic
disrespects discipline and wisdom

while leading our kids astray.
At malls, arcades and playgrounds,

the magic epidemic spreads.
Glorification of magic encourages

copycat acts. Played backwards,
magic dabbles in devil worship.

This is not a magic panic.
Know the magic warning signs

from lethargy and narcolepsy
to sleeplessness and excess energy

to just too even. If you see magic
on the street, alert the authorities.

Never get in the magic van.
Our war on magic never ends.

To combat the magic agenda,
we’ve banned the lewd practice

of public magic. Now outlawed,
magic has to happen outside town.

Magic better be gone by sundown.
We can make magic vanish.

 

Steven D. Schroeder is the author of three books of poetry, most recently Wikipedia Apocalyptica. His second book, The Royal Nonesuch, won the Devil’s Kitchen Reading Award from Southern Illinois University. His poems have been featured in public transportation, city parks, and business waiting rooms. Schroeder works as a Creative Content Manager for a financial marketing agency and edits the online poetry journal $.

Warren Muzak: “I’m a self-taught Canadian illustrator that blends traditional watercolor painting methods with comic book pen and ink line art. I am impacted by stories. Spoken or written, real or imagined. Jack Davis, Wally Wood, Bernie Wrightson, Arthur Rackham, and John Buscema are the visual storytellers whose work I am heavily inspired by. As a seasoned independent freelance illustrator who realizes other people’s ideas, I want to set myself apart from this commercial work by exhibiting my uniqueness and being recognized by my own special style.”