BY SABRINA ROSE NELSON
How to Cast a Spell
Winter midnight, trickle of
muted moonlight, more like
shadow, still in skinned-knee reverence,
here is how you cast a spell:
Cauldron open face up on the desk
flecked with musk and mugwort.
Stir in sea water, honeycomb,
gold striated stones. Invoke:
Air to drink into parched lungs,
Earth to root wet soil deep,
Fire to burn noise, wreckage, and
Water to guide soft slippery excavation.
Take three deep breaths:
Consecrate this page to heal and to shed,
may the spell I now weave
honor all that has been bled
By water and salt rock, by smoke and scent,
by heart and outpour, conjure up
ocean wild, wind blown, eyes wide
unafraid mystery, born deep in the belly
of an active volcano:
It lives.
It breathes.
For as it will,
so mote it be.
Grandmother
Muck root woman.
Garden woman.
Vivid green, pulsating life woman.
Always feed the ducks kind of woman.
Waxing moon woman.
Vanilla and moss scented woman.
Sweet earthy scent that brings me home woman.
Feet on the grass woman.
Kitchen witch woman.
Late summer night woman.
Sunflower woman.
Blackbird woman.
Ocean wild, eyes wide, wind blown woman.
Chin first, matted fir, tree sap woman.
Fire belly woman.
Appetite woman.
Heart shake woman.
Earthquake woman.
Know it in your bones woman.
Raw skin woman.
Moon heavy woman.
Too soft, woman.
Too much, woman.
Buried grief woman.
Blood worn woman.
Marrow sucked woman.
Goodbye woman.
My woman.
Healing
Inanna, Isis, Lilith, source,
root planted earth deep,
I offer up Magdalene red,
deep ruby oozing down
to the once razed earth below me.
She swells-
moonlit lush singing sweet rebirth,
full and unashamed in her potency.
In her winter: violent desecration,
soil burns devastation.
Violet blossoms sacked,
garnets turned to blades.
The antidote: bleed medicine to core,
lung deep, seep down and root.
Enveloped in the sweet, musky
earth cauldron, I see:
eyes a flooding river,
root to earth,
heart laid bare in her warm night.
Sabrina Rose Nelson is a poet, kitchen witch, and recent sociology graduate whose work now revolves around writing and holistic wellness. Her work has appeared in Bitch Magazine and the anthology I AM STRENGTH, among other places. Her writing is deeply influenced by the women in her family. To her, writing is a way to alchemize grief and shame into beauty, connection, and healing. Originally from the rainy and magical Pacific Northwest, she now lives in cozy New England with her partner. Find her on Instagram at @xosabrinarose.