aladdin's new priorities

the genie in the lamp is unimpressed by me and by my lack of originality. he calls me stupid as i tell him that one wish is enough and assure him that he will be Greater than God if he grants it. chest puffed out, dick swollen, and ego bursting, the genie steps back to centre stage, colourful vapors of smoke teasing a dramatic reveal, lingering beneath him. he strikes a pose and maintains the position like a yogi, waiting for me to ask for wealth or health or sex.

"i wish love could be enough" comes my meek request. "so you got dumped?"

"no.." i hesitate, wondering what words could be so big that they could successfully hold and carry my wish across to the magnificent beast standing in front of me. "i wish love could be enough no matter who it was shared between. hold your mockery. i wish love were enough to make up for the lack of kindness and empathy in God's superior beasts. i wish love could be enough. enough for when my father shouts at the young teenage boy who, working for minimum wage and even less respect, irons his shirt wrong so we share an inadvertent, uncomfortable glance but he lowers his even further before i get to apologise for my father, before i get to remind him he's still loved. i wish love was all one needed when they tied the knot with their soulmate who used to set their soul on fire but tonight ten years later in the same bedroom, his fiery palm lands hard on her face as she cradles her barren belly, wishing that her love for children could be enough to, against all odds, sprout a fetus within her and declare her a mother. i wish i could roam the streets of my city and not be weighed down by the guilt of someone else's hate because my love could be enough. enough for all the tattered halfheartedly children begging for a sip of water and a snack from the trash - even half a beating heart is an asset in this frozen-hearted world. i wish i could hold them and tell them that their Father above loves them and will hold them and that that love could be enough to stop that fourteen year old girl voluntarily laying her numb body beside the man as old as her phantom father, just so she can use his needle to put herself to sleep in this timeless world. i wish i could tell that girl that this isn't love. that that man doesn't show his love, he shows his masculinity and his grit and his need to overpower. that love as a belief is enough to hold onto until maybe one day a man will fall down to his knees because your smile alone weakened him before you. i wish love could be enough to stop the erratic beeping of your machine by the hospital bed every night, as i watch you sleeping and memorising all the details that make this kind of sleep safe, but pray that my love is strong enough to keep you from slipping into the kind of sleep my love is not strong enough to bring you back from. i wish love could be enough to keep you from spending weeks planning on how to leave this love-less world. that love could be a loud shrill alarm that goes off every time you opened your notebook to write yet another goodbye, every time you thought you didn't matter; an alarm to remind you your sister will never love again. i wish my love had the physical strength i lack, to pull down that noose and pull you into its glowing arms, holding all your broken pieces together and mending them with kisses. i wish love could be enough of a reason for them to stay. i wish we could love people back to life. i wish love could be enough for us to lower our boundaries so that the rich milk-skinned men in suits can merge with the tattered, heroin-heavy children, and money could return a flimsy piece of paper that can barely survive bird shit. i wish all the times i have said "but i love you" can be given back to me so that this time i get to watch them turn around say, "well, that is enough"."

the genie watches me as i rant and rave and cry and plead, wearing all my love on my sleeve, on my arm, on my legs, in my whole wardrobe but when i finish he sighs and deflates his chest, cocking his head to a side as if a parent that is not convinced by their son's speech for a raise in his allowance. he waits for me patiently as i finally run out breath and fall at his feet, waiting for the colourful vapours of magical smoke to do their thing, but the genie kneels down to my level instead. he whispers it cannot be done as he backs away, the tip of his snakey tail already dipping back into his bedazzled lamp. "i'm sorry. if it helps, i would love to help you. but if only love could be enough."