Patrick Kindig

presto

let’s call this
a vanishing act / the man 

with the rabbit / the man 
with the saw / the man 

with the man / that is me
in the wings / it’s so easy to say 

look / & then step behind
a screen / to direct the eye

toward something
unimportant / as the saying

goes / fool me once / shame 
on you / fool me twice 

& this is how love 
works / but hey / see how long 

this string of scarves 
is / how fat this rabbit / see 

how easily this man
is sawed in half / & put

together again / sent back 
to kiss his husband

in the audience / to spin around 
& show his body whole

this is what everyone comes for 
anyway / the moment 

it’s revealed that nothing’s 
happened / when the lights 

come up / & the curtains
close / when everyone claps 

& forgets to ask
where the magician’s gone