Commit This to Memory

by Mykki Rios

The missing ingredient might be a storm cloud, harvested from a Scandinavian land. It might also be a first kiss, given at the pinnacle of a young summer spent lounging in the heat, saying things like “I want to go to Paris, and then to die.” Then again, it might be the lingering, waxy flowers of a miserable soul who noticed their potential only once it was behind them. What is the difference between recipes and a spell book? Is anything more precious than the liminal? For that matter, what is the gap between heightened emotion and black magic? Color coding magic feels like an attempt to make it less enigmatic, but it really can’t be done. Real spells are written in the margins of already filled tomes, and the betwixt, between instants in life. For it to be real, you first have to be uncertain. It is all carved into tree trunks and scribbled as bus station graffiti. It is the stories and universes that feel so obvious in dreams. Then you wake up. Just for the record, I hid this so you would find it.

Mykki Rios is a queer genderfluid Mexican-American writer, performer and multimedia artist. Raised in Chicago, and having lived many places across the globe, they recently returned home to the Windy City. Mykki has had works featured in issues of Welter, Meat For Tea: The Valley Review, Random Sample Review, Smoke and Mold Journal, The Normal School, BRAWL Lit, Synkroniciti Magazine, HAD, londemere lit, and more. They were also a finalist in Lupercalia Press’ 2022 Chapbook Series Contest.