Rebuke/ /Spell

I pull my heart out with teeth and claws, 
           leave it glimmering on the glass table: 

Begone! Palo santo, sagebrush, sweetgrass 
           ash in the shadows. Taste cornpollen, 

bitter medicine—the stomach-swirling 
           of forgetting. Cast it out! Memories skein 

beneath the silver surface—butterfly fish 
           that bite. Dash the mirror. The table, 

let a form fall through it. Eat 
           the shards. Fill up the walnut-sized gap 

in your chest where your heart once was. Yes, 
           you—staring into aquamarine and amethyst 

and praying for a miracle. Most terrible and hated 
           and beloved part of you: sever 

the gold chain like a string 
           of spit. Plant a new orchid, 

untouched by everything except the god 
           who is the sun, his body 

rolling in eternity. A newer moon will mesh 
           the blood inside of you.

Credit

Copyright © 2025 by Kinsale Drake. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on February 14, 2025, by the Academy of American Poets.

About this Poem

“Poetry is powerful. Often born of strong feelings, spells can pull from the glittery and darkest parts of ourselves. This poem, framed as ‘Spell,’ demands, somehow, action and emergence from contradiction and stagnancy. I wanted to name these sensitivities and create a kind of exploding effect that ultimately returns to what is beautiful and natural. Despite what we want to destroy, we will always need a heart––something to ‘mesh / the blood inside of you.’”
––Kinsale Drake