Poetry by Jenny Robb: Witch Manifesto

Content Warning: Contains violence that may be upsetting to some readers. Please read with care.

Witch Manifesto

Wicked, wizened, aged witch
warty, ugly, hook nosed bitch,
devil lover
evil mother
stealing life from babes new born
poisoning pigs, blighting corn.
Stake her, burn her, hunt her down
plunge the ducking stool, watch her drown.

Priests and doctors have so decreed
the world be rid of this evil breed.
Giver of life
healer of strife,
oracle, midwife and herbalist
subversively challenge rules of fist.
For this they must die while we look on:
death screams brand thoughts of sisters long gone.

Rise up and avenge their charcoaled flesh
women’s power breathes life from death,
days of old
make us bold.
Modern witch weave spells of peace
reclaim the night, our birth right, our lease
to a world free of hunger, oppression, pollution
witches unite; conjure up a solution.