wish

this is the wish i made and hung on the yoko ono wish tree in MoMA's sculpture garden.
sidebar:
when i was little,
we used to wish on a stray eyelash:
if someone saw one on your cheek,
that had fallen from your lid
they would carefully rescue it and give it to you
to hold pressed between your thumb and your fore finger
then you would make a (silent) wish
separate your fngers and blow
if you had managed to make the lash dissappear
(as opposed to it remaining stuck to either sweaty little digit
because you had nervously been squeezing so hard)
you got your wish...
i had a friend
who every time
would run to the person wishing and say
"wish for peace, wish for peace"
(this was during the vietnam war)
and so, while i would always say i had
i would end up feeling incredibly guilty
when i had actually wished
that my affections for a certain boy
would be returned to me
i haven't seen a stray eyelash on someone's cheek in ages
i suppose, like teeth
for a while,
they stop falling out

and i don't make too many wishes anymore
and i did feel a twinge of guilt
over making one so personal
in troubled times like these...

(wish tree, wider view)