Making a Friend

Making Friends

by Ed Spicer

To make a friend

you must first create magic

or an apple seed

wave your warm golden wand

over the dark formless void

and gaze into your tears

spilled onto the face in this deep

and keep weeping until

the cows come home

one afternoon in your next reincarnation

by an ancient apple tree

find a wise woman

and avoid the persnickety fault-finding man

hiding in the naked field

of the shapely tree

eat with her and share

her impure look

infected with the poison of concupiscence

ring your finger around

a lock of her hair and climb

into a better story

together

even as you argue over

ownership of

pain and separation while making

apple pies together

for the church booth at the county fair

with the giant chicken

that came before the egg

to make a friend

you must first create magic

or apple pie or cider or

be saucy enough

to believe

in infinite possibilities…