Witch-healer
Curandera

¿Tienes susto hija?
Are you frightened?
Ven pa’ aca …
I will cure you.

Primera visita:
Smooth brown egg
dipped in holy water,
passed over her trembling body,
cracked into a dish.
Messages revealed in streaks
of yellow yolk.

Segunda visita:
Green branches of palm
brushed across shoulders, arms
legs, head. Sign of the cross.
En el nombre del Padre, hijo y espiritu santo.
Candles flicker before her altar
La Virgen.

Tercera visita:
Red flowers an offering.
Agua bendita
sprinkled in four corners.
White rock melted to
ashes lay the susto bare.
Desaparecido.

Witch-healer, they cry.
Wicked wisdom.

Why do they persecute,
revile? I wish
only to comfort.
Ven pa’ aca…

Jennifer Hernandez

---

Jennifer Hernandez lives in the Minneapolis area where she teaches middle school, wrangles three sons and writes for her sanity. Her work has appeared in Talking Stick, Red Weather, Silver Birch Press, Visual Verse and elsewhere. She has recently read her poetry in the Cracked Walnut Literary Festival and as honorable mention in the Elephant Rock Flash Prose contest.

Artwork: Thomas Dodd, “Spellbound”
Website: http://www.thomasdodd.com/

28 Feb This entry was published on February 28, 2016 at 12:02 am and is filed under 17 (February 2016), Poetry. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.