Descendant

Not, as some believe, from the word genesis,

the word gene came from the Greek  genos

meaning origin or, more specifically, birth.

The two words sprang from the same source,

both a kind of instruction on how things

came to be. Both gene and genesis mask the magic

of the everyday world by the mere act of naming.

So the Church Fathers carefully instructed us.

On both sides of my family, I descend from

witches: one a curandera who was skilled at herbs

and making tonics, the other a woman who felt

she was the equal of men and therefore had to be

burned at the stake. This explains a great deal.

Having survived two health scares in two years,

a friend asked me quite seriously if I have magic

in my family. I said no, for fear of where

the conversation would lead. Friendships rarely

survive these kinds of conversations. You can

discuss anxiety, infidelity, but never the occult.

Funny how I have always seen the curandera

as a bruja but rarely think of the one burned

at the stake. To be that bold, to see one’s self as equal:

is that not a powerful kind of magic? I am

not sure. But to live against all odds, to walk

through this world instead of crawling because

told to crawl? Yes, a dark and powerful magic.

When told I would die within months from a tumor,

to which one do you think I prayed?