Charm isn’t a book you understand on first reading. Charm isn’t a book you need, necessarily, to understand.
“An inflection of slowness — that is to say, to believe that / the obscure is accurate — is the base material the prima obscura”
Charms are added to a bracelet. Charm gathers power through accretion.
“throw bolts to the wind and butter my shoulders / do not make me come over there”
Charms are for children, for childbirth, for love, for defense when it all goes bad.
“witchwork devils brew blood vow lit zap monster / heavy burden of iron mezzo-soprano keen thick”
Our worries, our doubts, are these charms cast inwards?
“Dear beauty, / Forgive me my horrible / horrible failings most / particularly my hands / and their inconsiderate / lack of all the big big Fun / they can’t produce / how they implicate / themselves”
Close your eyes; say the words. Repeat a charm. Hear it with your mouth.
“Fondue and crackling hot oil, raclette, the importance of not / saying ‘raclette’ as it aggravated my brother. The importance of saying ‘raclette’.
Are you changed?
Publication Details
Author: Christine McNair
Title: Charm
Publisher: Book*hug
Year: 2017