The Wizard
Max Heinegg
Nothing stands in the way of your seeing
except getting there, past the monkeys
on the wing, past capitalist deceit,
past teleology. Sure, age makes you
think it’s a direction worth heading,
the wind at your back because friends know
the way, or that there’s music for the tin
and leonine. Your little dog too
wants the journey, but the real question
of home isn’t in the clicking
or trying to forget the curled toes jutting from
the foundation. Death is king,
but the key is that no one is wisest;
we breathe smoke and shape our reflection
in a liar’s mirror. Help him find peace
with weakness and age. Let control control
nothing. Trade one world for another.
Max Heinegg’s poems have been nominated for Best of the Net, and The Pushcart Prize. I've been a finalist for the poetry prizes of Crab Creek Review, December Magazine, Cultural Weekly, Cutthroat, Rougarou, Asheville Poetry Review, the Nazim Hikmet prize, and Twyckenham Notes. Recent work appears in Thrush, Nimrod, The Cortland Review, and Love's Executive Order. Additionally, he is a singer-songwriter and recording artist whose records can be heard at www.maxheinegg.com