ANY CRYSTAL CAN PURIFY YOU… – Rebecca Hawkes

ANY CRYSTAL CAN PURIFY YOU IF YOU ARE SUFFICIENTLY COMMITTED TO STABBING YOURSELF THROUGH THE HEART WITH IT

selenite splintering my lungs fibre-optic
or a wand of polished labradorite that refracts

my fractured ribcage a dozen shades of feldspar
glint oh dear I had forgot that slick jade egg

charged in distilled windowsill moonray for this ritual
I the jewel sucker swilling mouthfuls of tropical smoke

encrusting myself in a semiprecious geode
in the hopes that beauty could ever heal anything

these jagged stones with their accidental loveliness
made in hot mud for no-one’s eyes yet fetishized

into the sickness of the supply chain the miner’s sons
hunched underground scraping out tourmalines by hand

the middleman at the port town exchanging
a cup of rice for a rose quartz kilogram

sold by a peroxide wiccan at the travelling fair
with a promise that it would bring me love

and yet my heat-treated citrine loses its vibrance
in the glittish glare of direct sunshine

and the oily rainbow aura on the spirit cluster flakes off
as the treatment fades while I still alone and addicted

to new knowledge in my liquid crystal display
can finally scry fate from the oracle sheen

for every treasure on my mantelpiece
a child’s hands digging