Tag / fiona benson

by Carol J Forrester

#NaPoWriMo – Day Five – [Not-Guilty: A Witch I]

[not-Guilty: A Witch I]

Pleaded innocent for hours,
reading as guilty
when she protested
in that shrieking, crackle voice

and choked on
communion wine prayers
with her mouth full
of spells.

It does people some good
roping up witches,
purging
evil from the world

the woman is blamed.

I’m mixing two prompts this evening. NaPoWriMo’s Day Five challenge to mirror the layout and of an existing poem that I admire, (I chose a Fiona Benson poem from her collection ‘Vertigo & Ghosts’) and the DVersePoets Quardrille prompt: wine. During the 17th century there were a number of ‘tests’ to prove the innocence or guilt of a person accused of witchcraft. One of those ‘tests’ was to offer them communion or to have them recite the Lord’s Prayer. If they choked, of stumbled over the words then it was proof of their guilt. Fiona Benson’s poem [not-Zeus:Medusa I] ends on the line “the woman is blamed” which I’ve kept the same, but I’ve not followed the syllable count exactly.

by Carol J Forrester

Mothers, Have Mercy On Us All

Is there a quota for mercy?

Do they give it to the younger angels,

take their hands on clear mornings,

and steer them to the edges of clouds

where they can peer over the banks

into the depths of blue beneath.

All our little prayers bubbling up

to be popped by small celestial palms

crumb dusted from the mercy

their mothers have parcelled out

so they can toss it to the mortals below.

And do some of us know the places

to stand on those clear mornings

where the young ones chatter

and rustle their down like tissue.

Which ones crumble mercy to dust

so it falls evenly and ripples far,

the others who wodge their palms

into pebbles that punch through

but settle far too soon.

Who’s voice calls them home.

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Mary Mother of God have mercy, mercy on us all

Vertigo & Ghosts by Fiona Benson