For Here, Please | You Can Always Make a Wish

Slip the hematite ring on your left thumb, and squeeze your eyes shut to make a wish from your heart, as the shop owner tells you to. Follow her instructions, and wish for everyone to shut the fuck up. Interrupt that very important wish to make a better wish—one that feels productive, relevant, valuable. Wish to finish the two books you came here to finish. Across the ocean, in Ireland. On your way out, the shop owner adds, “You can change your wish, if you want. Just cleanse the ring, and make a new one.” Feel some relief at that, and the fresh air. Walk down sidewalks and over cobblestones, overwhelmed with information and interaction, ready to snap at your beloved, who can tell you’re off kilter and wants to help but doesn’t know how. Wish you could express what you need without sounding like an asshole, RE: wishing for everyone to shut the fuck up. Wish you could’ve told the beautiful shop owner that you loved all the books and jokes and thoughts she was sharing for twenty minutes without pause, but you had no more room for information and really needed to leave. Feel bad that you couldn’t, [...]