Photo by Lindsay Niles
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Conjure Woman
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Julie Buffaloe-Yoder
She gathers magic
beside the highway.
Just the right things
will be ingredients
.
for potions and poultices
incantations and chants.
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The deep pockets of
her blue sack dress
hold insects, rocks,
.
sun dry bones that laid
in the shape of a cross.
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Green pieces of glass.
Hard chewed up gum.
A crushed turtle shell.
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Red tipped feathers
that fell with a whisper
next to hot asphalt.
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She had a stroke
five years ago.
Her left arm sways
like meat on a hook.
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Still she looks,
busily sniffing
through weeds
beside road trees
because she knows
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a dead snake
pointing east
cures heartache.
.
A wad of red hair
fends off enemies.
A fallen baby bird
prevents stillbirth.
.
Pink lipstick on the rim
of a plastic cup
curses a cheating lover.
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The conjure woman was here
when the road was blue clay,
she was here before it all
quickly rose above her head
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in embankments, overpasses,
exits on the way to vacations.
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She does not see concrete
or hear the hiss of tires.
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She does not know
they put her picture
in a brochure
or that they call her
the Vulture Lady.
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She just keeps walking,
searching for bits
of meaning
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in smoke blown woods,
the gentle blood
of crossing hooves
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and human remnants
tossed from windows
without a thought.
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Julie Buffaloe-Yoder
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I will be offline later this week. My loved ones are coming to see me, and I’m
very excited. I’ll try to hang around for a couple of days to chat with
everyone. After that, I’ll see you in about a week. Feel free to turn
up the music while I’m gone.🙂
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This is one of my “Miss Eula” inspired poems. The title will probably change.
But I was getting tired of calling them all Miss Eula. Miss Eula is a
combination of a few different women I have known in my life. Yes, conjure
women are real. The ones I met were fascinating and beautiful.
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Thanks so much for reading! I hope you all have a good week.
Thanks for sharing the interesting poem. 🙂
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Thank you! It’s very nice to meet you. -Julie
I don’t know that you want critique or what it is exactly that you want from comments, but I really enjoyed it, and have nothing against the current title at all. I think it’s fitting. I love the line about the meathook, and the great sense of change that the following conveys:
“The conjure woman was here
when the road was blue clay,
she was here before it all
quickly rose above her head”
It’s interesting. The poets that I write with have a totem animal, the buffalo. Additionally, one of the poets has a poem about a conjure woman, and it’s her email address as well. So I was a little confused when I first saw the title. 😛
Hi, Keith. It’s great to see you. Thanks for the good words. The part about the title was just me thinking out loud. I tend to do too much of that online. Ha! Ha!
I was thinking of a book I had seen by the same name. I haven’t read it, but I hate to duplicate the title. I’ve also seen conjure woman spelled “conjur.”
Buffaloe is actually my last name, and it’s pronounced like the animal, buffalo. Lots of people in my state have the name, and I sometimes forget that it’s different to the rest of the world. But I do like it, which is why I kept it. Yoder is my husband’s. It’s a weird combination, I know. Ha! I added his name when he survived cancer as an honor to him.
My brother said he used to be ashamed of the name when he was a kid. I don’t know why. We get all sorts of nicknames from it, so maybe that’s why. I always thought it was cool, especially since I love the animal.
Thanks again, Keith. I appreciate it much.
“a dead snake
pointing east
cures heartache.”
It most certainly does.
They say the devil is in the details but with your poems it is where the beauty lies.
Have fun with your loved ones. We’ll keep the light on until you’re back.
Hi, Brigindo! Keep the light on and grab a cold one. If the cops come, I know nothing…absolutely nothing. Ha! Ha!
Thanks much for the good words. I’ll hop over and visit you before I go. Have a great week.
A Conjure Woman is much more interesting than a plain old bag lady. Your poem takes us inside the bag, gives us depth to the objects, to the person holding the items.
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Hi, JR! Thanks so much. -J
Wow, the line ‘her left arm sways / like meat on a hook’ is superb, perfect description indeed!
And so too the closing stanzas – the ‘smoke blown woods’ and the chill nature of humanity’s cast-offs, it’s a nice contrast with the conjure woman’s treasures of meaning.
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Hello, Ashley. It has been very nice to meet you and read your work. Thank you! -J
I love coming here to have you send me to another place. You are a stunning poet Julie. Thank you for thrilling me.
Hi, TWM. I can’t wait to read your book. I feel like a kid at Christmas:) Thanks so much. -J
What a brillant imagination you have, Julie!
“Her left arm sways /
like meat on a hook.”
It’s going to stay with me. Fabulous, my friend x
Hi, Michelle! Thank you much! I hope you’re having a great week.
Bless Miss Eula and all of the conjure women who inspire such telling portraits.
In my life, she was Mommy Henson – ugly as sin, looking for all the world like a Disney witch – but she could blow out fire, take a wart away, heal anything that ailed you. We were only half afraid of her because she helped people.
I love the details here – her arm swinging, her oblivion to the traffic and the people’s perceptions and opinions of her, and all of the objects she gathers along with their uses. These are wonderful pictures of this place and this woman.
You always structure a poem so well, Julie. The contrast of the blue clay and the overpasses sets up the strong ending. I felt such a sigh of satisfaction when I finished this. It is perfect.
By the way – enjoy the family! In the end, loving and being loved are all that really matter. I’m convinced.
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Hey, Karen! I love Mommy Henson:) Thank you so much for the good words and for your friendship and support. It is always appreciated. And you’re so right. Loving and being loved is all that matters. In the end, we’ll never look back and regret that, will we? Thanks again! I hate to miss what you’re doing. But I’ll definitely catch up. Have a great week. -J
i’d never heard of a conjure woman – and i am glad i have now. you ignite the imagination with this one. i love how you transition between the bits in her pockets and the breadth of her existence – and “smoke blown woods” and “gentle blood of crossing hooves” is a-mazing.
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Joaquin, I do appreciate it so much. I sound like a broken record here, too. Ha! Ha! But I really do. I hate that I’ll miss you this Thursday, but I’ll read double when I get back. Have a beautiful week. -J
“Pink lipstick on the rim
of a plastic cup
curses a cheating lover.”
I love the meaning she imparts to the modern detritus as much as the natural world. SPeaking of worlds, thank you for taking me into this one! I love Miss Eulas no matter what you call her.
Hey, Sweet Nan! It’s so great to see you, sis. Thanks so much. I hope everything’s going well your way. It’s weird…I was just thinking about you before you came last week. I keep thinking about Bob, too. I miss him so much. But I imagine he’s laughing:) Take care and please keep in touch when you can. I miss you, too!
Hi Julie,
Enjoy being with your family! Thanks for your poem. I love the picture you paint of her, oblivous to not only the traffic but her own disability, still seeking to help in the ways she knows. I don’t know if it’s what you intended, but the final three stanzas, to me, evoke the conjure woman herself, who keeps doing what she’s doing, to find meaning. She refuses to be a human remnant tossed from a window without a thought, but its not that she even thinks that out: she just is, she just does. The more times I read it, I love the thread of sound and rhythm in this poem. I enjoy reading it aloud.
So poignant…….the hanging arm image is superb. You always get it just right 🙂 x
A meaningful poem about finding the magic essences of life in bits and pieces discarded by the highway:
“and human remnants
tossed from windows
without a thought.”
good luck with selling the house! And have fun with your family and friends this week end 🙂
What a delight to find a fresh poem from you, Julie! Each of the characters you paint and create is so vivid, so full of life and meaning.
very vivid, you really bring her to life.
Enjoy your family visit!
I’m going to commission a snake pointing east. So much to enjoy and relish here, Julie. The Conjure Woman is real.
conjure woman – there is a bit of her in all of us isn’t there julie? she shows up in our dreams, in a thought, in an inspiration for a poem and sometimes she will even reveal herself in the mirror. she is woman, she is you and me and every woman who loves everything alive and gives it purpose – she is beautiful. bkm
conjure women couldn’t have been portrayed better…
“a dead snake
pointing east
cures heartache.” Is this true??
you know what Julie ,what more can i comment?? I think quoting your own lines is the best possible comment i can type in(Look i always fall short of words to comment..and then expect everyone else to comment heavily on my posts…god says-‘this is unfair child..’ :P)
i wish i had a conjure women with me too :P…i wish i could cast such a spell…Julie I am sorry YOU have cast a spell…I love the last lines..human remnants tossed out of the windows…it is such a deep thought that i cant stop thinking about it..I can either take in the literal meaning(i.e human remnants actually tossed out of windows :P) or the metaphorical meaning…whichever way i choose to go, my emotions about this lines CAN NOT dilute…
It was a wonderful read(as it always has been) ..and after being unable to stay in touch with your posts i know what i HAVE missed…
Forgive and correct me if i have wrongly understood anything..:)
What strikes me the most about this (besides your always amazing profiles of awesome women), is the sound of the words. It creates a fullness in the mouth. Beautiful.
I hope you’re having a wonderful break, Julie x
I have met women like this, but never have I met the feeling quite like you have made it. Taking it metaphorically, it has so much meaning, your poem is going in my pocket.
Oooooo, I love and fear the conjure woman. You had me at the first sentence. Magical.
Hi, girlswithoutshoes. Thanks so much!
Oops…sorry…I just noticed I didn’t say hello to lots of folks on this one. Was out of town. But y’all know that:)