Summoning Spells

Leelah Holmes

my sisters and i make yarn dolls, talismans resting 
at the gnarled roots of totoro trees, to summon new friends. 

we tie knots to make their neck and waist and wrists and ankles.
tucked in a head of strands, we insert pennies for eyes—a sight 
full of cents. we melt touch with matchsticks to seal the ends
like our box braids for new spring.

we watch the soil coughing up its crocuses, purple crawling out 
of cold dark throat, and know our rituals have begun their work. 
small things come to life at last and the ducks return to Hubby’s Pond. 
the grubs and the crabapples and the rabbits emerge from the frost. 
Matka crows to call us home.

Leelah Holmes lives and writes in Brooklyn. They’re learning to play the saxophone, to the chagrin of their neighbors. They have upcoming work in new words {press}.