MARIE LAVEAU TALKS ABOUT MAGIC FROM A CONFESSIONAL IN ST. LOUIS CATHEDRAL

 Marie Laveau, a colored woman who eventually became
known as the Voodoo Queen of New Orleans, often used
her knowledge of Voodoo to manipulate and acquire power.

 --Enigma

In one quick lick I waved my mojo hand,
made the Mississippi’s muddy spine 
run crooked as a crow’s foot, 
scared politicians into my pocket
with lizard tongues and buzzard bones,
convinced the governor to sing my name 
under a sharp crescent moon 
white as a gator’s tooth.


Now my magic got the whole Vieux Carré 
waltzing with redfish and rooster heads, 
got Protestants blessing okra and cayenne, 
Catholics chasing black cats down Dumaine, 
even got Creoles two-stepping with pythons 
along the banks of Bayou St.
 John.


They say soon my powers gonna fade,
that there’s a noose aloose in the streets
looking for a neck to blame.
 
But I’m just a lowly colored woman 
and ain’t nobody gonna blame a worm
for scaring a catfish onto a hook.

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