New Orleans

older ghosts
sacrificed to the Elder Gods
more ancient and more cruel gods
blood will spill
reclaim and re-consecrate the land, with the shedding of blood
burnt offering
the shepherd’s bloody return
the final sacrifice

plague rat
cursed
invoking djinn
pool of darkness
hammer of God
swamp witch
summoning djinn and invoking the Elder Gods
the true faith

shamans and alchemists, instead of vapid consumers
alchemist magic
turn lead into gold
pigs and goats
beauty and tragedy
fleas and ants

the great mystery
Samhain and harvest-time
magical alligators
back from the dead
unearthed after all this time
fresh and new, like she was never put in the ground
resurrection pits
old magic: death and revival magic
healing and reversing old age
live forever

healing stitched together wounds
rejuvenating peat bog fire
punished with immortality
the undying
hadn’t aged a day
shamanism, Voodoo, Santeria, Palo and Obeah
ancient magical practices
shamans and alchemists in the new world
lived another 100 years
immortal magic and alchemy

out of the burial pit
in the barrows
the beginnings of symbolic thought
graves, temples and sacrifice
mystical Stonehenge
aliens and cave people