Curandera
Larry D. Thomas
Los Días de los Muertos
(Big Bend area, far West Texas)
Her face
is a shadow
framed by a scarf
of black lace.
Her dress,
also of black lace,
is ankle-length,
and rustles
as she moves
about the dugout.
She slowly
circles Irene
who sits entranced
in her rocker
of mesquite.
Undulant as a dancer,
the curandera moves,
leaving in her wake
the scent of lemon grass,
garlic, and wellness.