Say Your Wishes Out Loud

Thinking on words
as magic,
words as spellwork, words as manifestations-
then thinking how They
convinced us our wishes
could not come true if we
spoke
them aloud into some fertile ground for magic: the smoke
of blown out birthday candles,
the night when chosen to witness burning stardust, or to no one
at all during some magic hour.
What a lie we were sold
that asking for something
would cause it not to come.
What a successful way to keep us
small and sad
to convince us to fear
asking for what we want.