Jane Satterfield

A Charm for Imbolc

            In Celtic tradition, Imbolc is the halfway point between the winter solstice and spring. Imbolc festivals honored the goddess Brigid.

Halfway to spring, let frost turn
to fire. The assemblage
speaks for itself: globe of glass

glazed with gold patina, jade-blue bottle
tiny or torpedo-shaped,
countermeasure composed to lure &

trap. What ritual objects should it hold?
Bird bone, thread, wristlet
of teeth, clippings of hair or herb,

correspondences the shape
of whatever you wish to invoke or dispel—
A network of nails & pins

causes harm; mullein or moly
protects you from another’s
enchantments. Prosperity

might require clove, honey, or coins;
Bog witchgrass is a namesake
you gather & save.
What you heave

into ditch or riverbank, hide
in brick wall, chimney, or case
bears the hand of the healer,

the strange heft of harm.
Let the orations of starlings
begin. Do not move, clean

or unstopper the charm.

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Jane Satterfield has published five poetry books, including The Badass Brontës (a winner of the Diode Editions Poetry Prize), Apocalypse Mix, Her Familiars and Assignation at Vanishing Point. She is the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts poetry fellowship, the 49th Parallel Award for Poetry from Bellingham Review, the Ledbur Poetry Festival Prize and more. Recent poetry and essays appear in About Place, The Common, DIAGRAM, 
Ecotone, Interim, Literary Matters, The Missouri Review, Orion, Tupelo Quarterly and elsewhere. Born in England, she lives in Baltimore, where she is a professor of writing at Loyola University Maryland.