American Wizard XXXIX

Twiction: His parents encouraged this with every breath, outing inferiors whenever they attempted to enjoy pleasures of the higher bloods.
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Nidal Malik Hasan

I can’t say I haven’t thought about Nidal Malik Hasan, whom killed 13 people at Fort Hood and injured another 30. It’s tore me in so many directions. A part of me can’t help thinking it would have been better if he’d died, and another part tells me what a horrible thing that is to wish of someone. His trial will inevitably divide and anger the Muslim community only further in America as it goes on. And I can’t help but think if his death would have been preferable to such a thing. I can’t even be sure if I’d want him to have the death penalty. I’m opposed to it and have been for a very long time, but would he just be an influence to other prisoners if alive? My conscious aches considering all of it, that even the most rudimentary foundations of my beliefs aren’t firm in any sense.
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As more comes to life I’m shocked he had ties to radicals in Yemen and discussed giving them money. I guess I fooled myself into thinking Muslims could be happier here, that somehow we treated them better than Europe.
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Maybe, at last, I just have to accept that karma’s reached our shores. We’ve made ourselves a fortress and now it’s breached. The wars we’ve fought have finally come home.
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Belief Pinball

Belief Pinball

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Insert quarters;
Start your life.
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With just one ball
Give it your all.
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There won’t be
A double bonus.
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There won’t be
500 points.
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Your jackpot is a
Game well played.
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Tickets, tokens
Mere formalities.
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Enter your high score.
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American Wizard XXXVIII

Twiction: A caste of sorts existed, where entrances, exits and drinking fountains of the "lesser magicals" were separate if there at all.
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For Mali

For my baby Mali, whom gives me strength to write...
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A Million Lives
If I had a million lives to live
I’d be an artist in each one.
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I can’t imagine thinking
That the sun is simply there.
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To not dwell on that raging beauty
Would be the wasting of a stare.
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Oh, lord, if it were but a hollow orb
I’d fall dead quickly in despair!
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I’d want its fusion to consume me
As I go up in remorseful flare!
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Then, oh then, my ashes would drift on
Toward another star of hopeful glare.
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My song would span the cosmos
In a loud, far-reaching prayer:
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If I had a million lives to live
I’d be an artist in each one.

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American Wizard XXXVII

Twiction: It wasn’t uncommon for Mathew’s family to call others ‘old magic’ with an aristocratic flair. He detested it greatly with much random yelling.
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American Wizard XXXVI

Twiction: Mathew’s parents only cared about magic, in a way reminiscent of how most feel toward money: it consumed their history and souls.
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