Did you ever want a voodoo doll to stick pins in for revenge on an enemy? 
This subject did.

Voodoo Redux
An essay in verse


She was easily hurt
And wounded
But a novelty item
Her voodoo doll (with pins) kept her phony sweet demeanor
Intact in daylight.

At night with no one near
She would stick pins in various organs
Of those she deemed enemies.
The kidneys of Douglas
The liver of Adriana
The ear of Newton —
And then
She would sleep peacefully.

Slightly paranoid and never known as particularly kind,
Her evenings were busily spent alone
In revenge.
And only once did she prick her own finger
Bringing blood
Which she sucked up deliciously.
Vampire like.
Loving the taste — she would
Cause pain to various adversaries
That stood in her way unknowingly
As she was on her way to nowhere special.



One day
Returning to her bedroom chamber
Suddenly
An excruciating double-over pain
Took her.
Grasping her side
Gasping for breath
She called for help to
Her one remaining friend, Samantha,
Whom she had never stuck …
Yet.

Samantha rushed her
To Emergency
A room full of those more folded over than she
Taken last,
Finally her turn.

A million pricks later
And a million moments of look-see
The medical staff
Declared this afflicted patient
Free of any discernable illness.
Straightening her up
They presented her with a prescription that said,
Mysterious.
Released.
Agitated.
No remedy.

That night
Dozing
Relieved finally from excruciating pain
The patient looked at her voodoo doll
And noticed it trying to speak.
In Vodoun-ish,
Zedgfadghel, Srghalla, Feaalrakh
Then suddenly speaking in English with echo
It announced a premonition —
From the bottom of its ragdom,
"You are knownnnnnn!"
It then slumped into material silence,
Head bent.



The human perpetrator knew then,
That somewhere an enemy
(And there were many)
Had discovered her secret
And had pinned her to her doom.

In revenge
A tit for tat
A return serve
A slam-dunk
So in a rage — out of the park
She blamed her doll
Tossing it to the floor
Pins everywhere
Stuffing spread
Accusing the dead rag of talking to friends and giving up secrets
While realizing in her rage
That this voodoo behavior
Had to be stopped
Or
Else.