works by william pham, 2005-present

index | poetry | fiction

A SUMMONING SPELL

The loneliest walk of all is the 5 A M walk to the local donut shop.
I smoke a cigarette with every step and in-between the steps
I call upon my fellow ghosts,
the random spirits in lovers and streetlights.
I invoke them and I invoke you. There is no sound to accompany
the exchange of two dollar bills and three coins,
and neither is there a curse to call
from the thin layer of cream atop
coffee contained in styrofoam along with
all the errant hopes of these our errant ghosts.
The cream disperses the sugar grains and then
a ghost once laid among the sheets she said:
I invoke you,
with a circle drawn out in chalk upon the sidewalk
in all the creases in your brow and cheeks.
I invoke you,
with a cigarette, with styrofoam and cream,
with stock futures in tea leaves, in palm lines,
with stock features on the pages of a magazine,
because I can’t recall the rest except
the evaporation of water off concrete skin.

copyright (c) 2007 by william pham