Blow out the candles

Today's topic: wishes

• what they do and how they function
• what happens (a) when they are snuffed out (b) when we drop them in the laps of unsuspecting strangers (c) when we leave them on stoops, ring the bells, and run (d) when we leave them unattended in shopping carts at the mall (e) when they are too small to be seen with the naked eye (f) when they are too large to fit into a #10 envelope and hence require additional postage (g) when they get covered in cat hair (h) when they are lonely (i) when we miss them (j) when we turn them into prayers (k) when they hover in the corner and won't go to bed (l) when they are pink (m) when they are brittle (o) when one comes back to haunt you (p) when they turn into a balloons and float away (q) when they insist on wearing leather jackets (r) when they insist on dressing like toursits (s) when they refuse to split up (t) when they have gender identity crises (u) when they turn into poems (v) when they don't turn into poems (w) when they grow mould (x) when they turn into fetishes (y) when they whisper (z) when they shout.

The Dickinsonian oracle blows out the candles:

When Etna basks and purrs
Naples is more afraid
Than when she shows her Garnet Tooth -
Security is loud -
(E. Dickinson, 1161)