IT'S YOUR MUG ANNIVERSARY ISSUE Dehejia Maat   LOVE SPELL Draw a circle Surrounded by yellow and orange candles Toenails painted honey Lips painted caramel Lined with chocolate Get on knees Pray to the sun Say he's the only one He's the only one Get high off the brandy in the cabinet The same one that's inside The windows to his soul Steal kisses from him While he sleeps Purchase poppy nectar and scatter it round the house Scent skin with Orchids Float rose petals in rainwater See pink glowing around and around Love flowing through out Hands must trace eights in the sand This is my blind faith Waking up from the dizziness It's ruling the world After he came It’s possible to cry For something other than sadness Open up wings Drop water from the sky Wrap self in a siren’s blue song Feeling every beat As if it were my own Remaining Stand out in the rain Call the Spirits down Throw candle fire Into the cauldron Circle round yourself Around waist Tasting skin Closing eyes Unfold like purple roses In the warm breath of spring Passion is here Capture salted water The shape of his fingers Mix with smoke And my lips Light every candle Sage burning in a black seashell It's heavy This is the last boat across the sky set sail last night No longer locked away Sleeping among blue butterflies And plant purple bamboo Hold tight After the amber smokes settles Throw stones till they hit the bottom of the well Call his spirit close t Raising the warm death Sent Now we’re gonna walk barefoot Thru sand Roots in you now You ain’t going nowhere HERO-WINS Like mumbo sauce on chicken we was supposed to be inseparable You the unfortunate aspect no reflection of me Always speaking truth dig it Brotha so deep me standing... you sit Cafe Brotha poetic cafe frequent customer jive turkey ass Shivery divorced They all be talking bout Reparations/being wronged/ Muata Baruka/ Devils/Bum knees/ the hot pants that big legged sistah wore/ smoking trees Mean while Other worldly phenomena like Interracial daters give you the chills oh no/ how could he/ how could she/ dats some shit right der/ be fallin outta your mouth...circles upon circles you've passed through still ain't found the 1 Me the symmetrist to your parallel lines And I'm still standing while you riding Comfortable Oh Oh no Didn’t have to hold the door/pick up the tab/let me pass/ pump my gas/ trying to pimp me for a dollar... no I don't want my window washed Chaos here We/no harmony Don’t want this truth any longer Perspective   Dehejia Maat is a poet, actress, yogi, and vocalist, a deep-rooted original Earth woman who greets the dawn chanting while doing Surya Namaskar. She is the theater director for the Dragon Box Theater in Washington, DC and the hostess for the Innneractive Jam Session, a weekly event for artists to transcend the norm at the Artmosphere Cafe. She has graced stages from the Kennedy Center to local clubs on Historic U street, rocking mics from Japan to Toronto. She is co-Creator of the "No Goddess Left Behind" writers' workshop and Yoga teacher for Mayor Fenty’s "Step up to Health" program. Her current projects are The Joy of Billie Holiday, an original one-woman show and The Yes that Leads to Infinity, her second book poetry.   Published in Volume 10:2, Spring 2009.