in the little square mid-performance
he spots his ex-wife in the crowd
         she is walking away, her head resting
         on the shoulder of another man
distracted at a crucial part of the act
the magician cuts his assistant’s leg with a sword

the ambulance is a real crowd pleaser

later in the night the magician is performing solo
a drunk man with a yellow smile spits on him
         I know your tricks, says the rotten man.
         earlier in the evening he’d watched a show
         on TV called Magicians’ Secrets Revealed
         he picks up the magician using his eyes.

the magician is levitating
stark white against the night
a kite
‘come down from there!’
calls his ex-wife, trying to be tolerant

but he’s floating away
the crowd exclaims,
‘he was never a magician.
he was just a plastic bag.
quite the trick!’

no, he’ll not be coming down.