Fall is upon us, Halloween is right around the corner, and it's time for all of the modern-day witches to shine. If you're in a particularly magickal and spooky mood, the 13 poems about witches on the list below are sure to make your cauldron bubble.
Witchcraft is experiencing something of a renaissance today, with nearly two million hits for the #witchesofinstagram hashtag on that picture-perfect social network. Practicing witchcraft offers many women, of all ages, the opportunity to take charge of their lives and their worlds, a quality that is often absent in mainstream religions.
Plenty of industries have noticed the uptick in witchy activities, and they have responded accordingly. Author Zoraida Córdova's Brooklyn Brujas trilogy focuses on the Mortiz sisters: powerful young witches whose family faces a variety of threats, from the magickal to the mundane. While the Brooklyn Brujas celebrate the Mortizes' gifts, drama has been brewing on the problematic side of the new witchcraft boom, with Pinrose's "Starter Witch Kit" pulled from Sephora shelves after outcry from indigenous activists and practicing witches alike.
Whether you're a practicing witch or you're just interested in magick, you'll love the 13 poems on the list below, which have the perfect combination of spooky vibes and empowering verses to get you through the rest of the year.
"The Witch" by Elizabeth Willis
A witch will gaze wistfully at the glitter of a clear night.
A witch may take the form of a cat in order to sneak into a good man'schamber.
A witch's breasts will be pointed rather than round, as discovered inthe trials of the 1950s.
"women are some kind of magic II" by Amanda Lovelace
— from the witch doesn't burn in this one
"The White Witch" by James Weldon Johnson
O brothers mine, take care! Take care!
The great white witch rides out to-night.
Trust not your prowess nor your strength,
Your only safety lies in flight;
For in her glance there is a snare,
And in her smile there is a blight.
"When We Declare Ourselves Witches" by Siling Zhang
When we declare ourselves witches
We usurp the head of the church
We stand before God with our backs turned
And appropriate his halo.
"After He Called Her a Witch" by Susan Ludvigson
The fire is almost out, a few ashes
flicker in the absent light,
and suddenly he recalls
his mother holding orange peels
"Witch Hunt" by Samantha Healy
He likes girls with mothers that don’t love them.
Mothers like whiplash, throw you across your bedroom,
cradle you in the wreckage, teach you nothing of stability.
Mothers that singe your eyebrows with every laugh.
"Witch-Wife" by Edna St. Vincent Millay
She is neither pink nor pale,
And she never will be all mine;
She learned her hands in a fairy-tale,
And her mouth on a valentine.
"WITCHES" by Fleassy Malay
In the past, they burned us
Because they thought we were witches.
Because we knew what to do with herbs outside of the kitchen.
Because we knew how to dance, and seduce, and pray.
Because we moved with the cycles of the moon.
"Witch Burning" by Sylvia Plath
In the marketplace they are piling the dry sticks.
A thicket of shadows is a poor coat. I inhabit
The wax image of myself, a doll's body.
Sickness begins here: I am the dartboard for witches.
"To Burn the Witch" by Erin Anastasia
I couldn’t help but think
that maybe they had rubber bullets
but the people who taught them how to shoot had lead ones,
or, considering their skewed view of us, maybe silver ones,
"Her Kind" by Anne Sexton
I have gone out, a possessed witch,
haunting the black air, braver at night;
dreaming evil, I have done my hitch
over the plain houses, light by light:
"Bruja's Soliloquy" by Rachel McKibbens
What greater burden,
What more unconquerable revolt is there
Than that of a resurrected woman
Ripe with vengeance
"Witch Wife" by Kiki Petrosino
I’ll conjure the perfect Easter
& we’ll plant mini spruces in the yard—
my pink gloves & your green gloves
