Magicians scare me but only the ones who believe what they’re doing is real magic even as they massage the hidden coins taped to their fingers. I am one of those who looks for signs, anything to help me find a reason for what I do, maybe like taking the first job you spot in the want ads, sort of its own magic, I guess, like I was thinking I wanted to work night shift watering a golf course and wham! an opportunity nobody else saw coming appeared and here I am. Meanwhile magicians are gathering together, looking into the crisis of non-believing, you know, the chance that the audience will want their money back, the nerve to call what they do, illusion.
Casey Killingsworth has work in The American Journal of Poetry, Better Than Starbucks, 3rd Wednesday, Two Thirds North, and other journals. Casey's first book, A handbook for water, was published by Cranberry Press in 1995, (forward by Willard Espy) and a recent book, A nest blew down was published by Kelsay Books in 2021. Casey's newest, Freak Show (Fernwood Press) was published in 2024.
