Poems about witches

And your invitation to write a spell - Poetry (pen) Pals #41

Photo by Tikkho Maciel on Unsplash

Hey,

I don’t actually think these poems need any introduction.

I’ve gone for the theme of witches this week. Dark, fear-inducing, powerful, sexy, demonised for their innate wisdom and their threat to the patriarchy. It’s no wonder that some of the most progressive and intelligent female poets of the past wrote about witches. Or that poems like Witches, by Fleassy Malay have become spoken around the world as women, “say no.”

I lost myself for far too long researching this theme, of course I did. I was practically moaning with delight reading some of these lines, of course I was. I’ve done a fair bit of reading around the history of witches in recent years (only last week this post by

Katie Jgln

provided a good overview of how the printing press contributed to Europe’s deadly witch hunt) but for some reason have never spent that long reading poetry about witches.

Until now.

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Spell for Change from Witch, by Rebecca Tamás

This first one is ‘Spell for Change’ from the book Witch, by

Rebecca Tamás

published by Penned in the Margins.

The Witch by Mary Elizabeth Coleridge via Poets.org

‘The Witch’, by Mary Elizabeth Coleridge, via Poets.org. I can’t stop thinking about the time in which Mary Coleridge wrote this poem and all that it is insinuating.

After he called her a witch, by Susan Ludvigson

‘After he called her a witch’ by Susan Ludvigson via The Poetry Foundation.

Witch Wife by Kiki Petrosino

Kiki Petrosino, with ‘Witch Wife’ from the book with the same name, published by Sarabande Books. Image via Poetry Foundation.

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Then because I just can’t stop myself here are a few more:

• ‘Witches’ you can hear read by Fleassy Malay on their website here.

• ‘Witch burning’ by Sylvia Plath is worth a read here.

• ‘Her kind’ by Anne Sexton here.

• And finally, Elizabeth Willis, ‘The Witch’ is far too long to photograph but an absolute must read.

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A writing prompt for this week:

SO much inspiration to be found above, but sometimes too much isn’t necessarily a good thing when the empty page is staring at you menacingly.

This week in October is a busy one for us. Busy in a good way. Three of our children have birthdays in the space of seven days. It is also the school half term holidays. Add in a little Halloween trickery and the desire to be as eco-friendly as possible (hello charity shop up-cycling of an old bridesmaids dress, don’t ask) and my jaw becomes a little tighter than I’d like.

So if, like me, you need something a bit more contained then here’s an idea.

• Within Rebecca Tanás’s book, Witch, there are a whole series of poems with the titles, ‘spell for…’ Including ‘spell for logic,’ ‘spell for friends’ and ‘spell for sex.’

  I quite liked the idea of trying to write a spell poem and making it mysterious, mystical, maybe sensual. The thing about witches and witchcraft that sends tingles up my spine is that rebelliousness, that fire, that command of the rulebook. By writing a poem that ‘casts a spell’ there’s that taking back of power. Demanding different.

  This could allow us to get deeply creative and curious, both in the words we chose, the techniques we employ, the theme of our poem and even the form. If there was ever an invitation to try something different then maybe this is it? Would you ever find a witch doubting her ability to weave some magic. I don’t think so. What will your ‘spell for…’ be? Can you let go and have a little dance with the dark?

Keen to try it? Eeek, I hope so.

Nelly x

P.s Do you know any other poems on this theme? I am here for more, more, more..