Incantation (or, Sometimes I Wish I Were a Voodoo Queen)

Red swamp lady, call now to me
Resound below the waterline
Belay my hands, sweet sugar water
For that man, dark and leonine
Invocation, exhalation
Legba runs with les Mystères
With proud loa, dancing cobra
Mask the smell of burning hair
Daytime mister, speak in whispers
Fishermen’s knots work under my skin
Moon-eyed sister, mossy vista
Into my fabric press round little pins

sprog thoughts

200 33rd St. squats phonetically in a cactus garden
Where the front step slants so I have to run past the sprinkler
And stop on a dime so I don't hit my shins on the
Second step up, but then a breath and I'm inside where it's
Palpable love, and Diorite the Awkward Cat
Straddles the wingback.
The shopping carts are piled high
With sixty-something loaves of bread
And countless onions
(Here I am lying about countless, because there were ninety)
And that's just the first round and then
Timid smiles sidle up to peanut butter sandwiches.
The heat gets into my hair and my clothes, and I chop
Onions and more onions, and its dry
like nothing Louisiana has ever considered.
From the very first night, when I soak through my blanket,
I know good things are coming
So I cook and my apron pockets fill and the week blurs
Into sweat and endless chopping, punctuated by a beautiful,
Beautiful storm and its accompanying game
Of lap tag and rain dancing.
And I cannot imagine loving them more when I hear that
Yes I am angry, and yes you are angry,
But isn't it amazing how Love is bigger?
So we link into a new kind of trust, and I learn
That Matt has soft eyes and he speaks
To us as though we were in on his inside joke
And Gustavo always comes back for
Vegan seconds, and Lizzie knows every Disney
Song ever made, god help us, and Amanda is moved
To her very bones so she breaks
Down in the girl's bathroom where Katie,
With her heart-shaped face and round blue
Eyes and no clue what she's worth, says "It's okay, love.
We'll never forget, we'll never forget." So when they,
Red-eyed, come out of the bathroom we
Melt into the most healing kind of laughter.
We embark bravely into anti-oppression and all
Gasp audibly when Noel says that
She and her family were mistaken for the live-in help,
And the simulation arrives and everybody's
Brows knit and maybe we get a little
Snappish the night before but when the
Morning comes Anna heaves in her
Smoker's voice, and Rachel talks through
Her nose, and nobody can stop
Laughing at how ridiculous we all are.
And what I will remember
Comes not from the chopping and chopping of vegetables,
Or the way my feet pound for hours
After I've sat down, but from the way Rachel
Lights up on her birthday when we
Present her with lemon poppy seed cake, or
The way Adelaide doesn't even hesitate
To jump into harmony with me, or how
Acadia and I make a secret fort
Under the picnic table and discover
That she over-salted the pancakes because she
Is in love, and I understand, I understand
Because I've stumbled upon so many
New soul mates that I am certain
I will never feel totally alone again