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Curandera
by Nevada Kerr


I'm floating like a bubble rising weightless in the steam
Flying over arid bog and blackened mountain stream
My body down below sucked into the undertow
A spongy, brittle animal, it rides the overflow

The curandera prays from a book of common prayer
Cajoling my ghost with her muddy hands and hair
Her holy water pours into white and rolling waves
A black hawk sweeps the sky above my tenement of clay

Her hands of light and ether distil the autumn rain
My semi-liquid carcass, my effervescent frame
A flayed and open torso spilling sand and grain
Whirlpool crater gurgling, she dissolves this life of pain.

Written by © Nevada Kerr
March 26, 2003.



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Created: April 2003 © Paul Kinder Last Updated: 18/2/03