Voodoo

DAZZLE 

“Mrs. Ferguson was said to
have magical powers.”
—Truman Capote, “Dazzle,”
PORTRAITS AND OBSERVATIONS
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Years later in New York—
I kept being haunted by the Witch

It was all about feeling guilty—
for stealing my grandmother’s necklace
__________________

But it was more than just that tho—
I kept suffering from “missing time”

Mrs. Ferguson had hypnotized me—
swinging that necklace like a pendulum
________________

Back and forth over her head so that—
I plunged into a dazzling darkness

SPINDAZZLESPINSPINDAZZLEDAZZLE—
then I woke up back in the Garden District
___________________

In front of my house but I didn’t know how—
or who brought me back there that Sunday

All I could remember was her laughter—
sitting there rocking in her rocking chair
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Even tho she be long gone & dead—
She still be the Big Easy Voodoo Witch

People came to her for spells & wishes—
marriages, business deals, getting even
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My problem was different than that tho—
I couldn’t tell anybody else but her

I told her I didn’t wanna be a boy—
I wanted to be a girl instead dontchaknow
__________________

“Well,” she drawled, “you sure be—
prettier than any boy oughtta be…”

So just like that she know my Secret—
she read my Beads and smiled…
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“You’re a dumb little faggy son of a bitch—
C’mon honey, bein a girlie boy aint that bad!”

I was simply outraged, shocked to death—
how dare that old Witch call me a queer!!!
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She laughed and then started the game—
swinging my grandmother’s lovely necklace

The one with the rubies, diamonds, pearls—
with the big yellow Sapphire glowing bright
_________________

“This is what you’ve always wanted, honey”—
SPINDAZZLESPINSPINDAZZLEDAZZLE

The old Voodoo Witch, she hypnotized me—
some sort of strange escape fantasy
_________________

She be good at it, disguising herself like—
some dumb old know-nothin washer-woman 

Dat’s how HooDoo survived in the Big Easy—
all that Creole, French, Spanish, Afro-Magic…
_________________

So she know my deepest, hidden secret—
but I don’t remember what happened next

All I know is that I paid for it with that—
valuable necklace of my poor grandmother
______________________

Years later after coming up to the Big Apple—
I’d forgotten all about New Orleans back then

But then one night at a Manhattan party—
I got higher than a kite on some opium
_________________

Plus the usual coke and weed that comes—
with a cocktail party in some fancy penthouse

It was then that I had this DAZZLING flashback—
all the way back then to what really happened
___________________

After hypnotizing me with the yellow sapphire—
swinging the necklace back and forth

The witch took me outta the parlor down—
de hallway into this dark bedroom
_______________________

There this Creole kid not much older than me—
handsome Skeeter young son of the Witch

He be stretched out in bed waiting for me—
without his T-shirt or sailor’s trousers
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He’d been drinking rum with the Witch—
getting ready for the usual slow fuck

Mother and son incest didn’t mean nothin’—
not to a Voodoo Queen and her studly Son
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She like the young stuff & Skeeter be—
de offspring of a stoned Voodoo rendezvous

He be the one that came & got me to see—
his mother the Voodoo Witch who knew all
________________

She had a lotta Secrets hidden in her mind—
it be easy for her to read my mind & know

SPINDAZZLESPINSPINDAZZLEDAZZLE—
Skeeter be the sharp-eyed hoodlum type
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Sneering at what his Mama bring him—
smirking Creole blowin smoke rings

Lookin up at the ceiling bored smokin—
a big fat thick expensive Cuban cigar
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He fucked me all that afternoon—
no need for sermons or singing anymore

He got me good where it really hurts—
after awhile tho it kinda felt real good
_____________

The way I fainted 2 or 3 times straight—
made me realize bein a gay boy be pretty good

It must’ve been the coke and opium—
plus the usual double-martinis dontchaknow
__________________

Provoking my DAZZLING FLASHBACK, baby—
talk about Fast Forward Replay Climax!!!

It was then I suddenly realized thanks to—
the Voodoo Queen intuition of Mrs. Ferguson
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That all I really needed was to be me—
the man who I was = a man who loved men…

After getting continuously reamed—
inside-out by handsome studly Skeeter
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I finally realized the most simple thing—
with each stroke up my fuckin nelly ass

This was Mrs. Ferguson’s gift to me—
professionally delivered so very adroitly
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Effortlessly fuckin me to death, baby—
inseminating me with de Voodoo truth…

SPINDAZZLESPINSPINDAZZLEDAZZLE—
it all be worth the fuckin necklace