Help | About | Suggestions | Alms | Chat [0] | Users [0] | Log In | Join
 Search:
Poem: Submit | Random | Best | Worst | Recent | Comments   

Witch to Wicca (Free verse) by Lenore
You snap your hair back like a child's, Don your costume of whatever's clean, And get to work Ceremonies are redundant When every minute is a hurried whisper To the Goddess who exists only Because someone has to be the object of your prayers Candles and chalk circles turning in about points That lead to a surging center You diffuse your power evenly as your life Spreads at its edges like somebody's Spilled gasoline Fire: never-ending sun Air: circling the dust before the storm Water: sweat-tinged rain pouring down Earth: you fall and caress it As it turns to mud despite your tearless eyes And, like a child knocking on the door Of the house that doesn't like children, You turn confused and wide-eyed To no one For your God is not; And magic only works when you learn that.

Up the ladder: #7
Down the ladder: Sharks For Libido

You must be logged in to leave comments. Vote:

Votes: (green: user, blue: anonymous)
 GraphVotes
10  .. 01
.. 12
.. 30
.. 00
.. 01
.. 21
.. 00
.. 00
.. 10
.. 00
.. 11

Arithmetic Mean: 6.0
Weighted score: 5.7310586
Overall Rank: 1838
Posted: September 27, 2002 10:49 AM PDT; Last modified: September 27, 2002 10:49 AM PDT
View voting details
Comments:
[8] god'swife @ 209.179.213.52 | 27-Sep-02/11:17 AM | Reply
I can feel the witches burning. "And, like a child...children," is my favorite metaphor of yours.
[n/a] Lenore @ 64.252.101.15 > god'swife | 27-Sep-02/11:27 AM | Reply
Thank you! Does this poem come across as anti-witchcraft??
What do you mean you can feel the witches burning? Perhaps the meaning of the poem is not as clear as I thought.
[8] god'swife @ 209.179.213.52 > Lenore | 27-Sep-02/11:36 AM | Reply
No not at all. I'm using the double image of the witch using fire and being consumed by it. Her magic back-"firing" on her. Plus I think a witch my not be happy with your confrontation at the end. I haven't worked out a meaning yet, exactly. I believe you & I have some philosophies in common.
[n/a] Lenore @ 64.252.101.15 > god'swife | 27-Sep-02/11:52 AM | Reply
I gr0k. You are very close. may you never thirst. )0(
[8] god'swife @ 209.179.213.52 > Lenore | 27-Sep-02/11:55 AM | Reply
grOk? Never thirsty always hungry.
[n/a] Lenore @ 64.252.101.15 > god'swife | 27-Sep-02/12:08 PM | Reply
Have you not read "Stranger in a Strange Land"??? You must!
[8] god'swife @ 209.179.213.52 > Lenore | 27-Sep-02/12:12 PM | Reply
Yes yes yes. Noones invoked that name for years! Robert Heinlein and me all of 10 reading in the Avacado, hording salt, using the closet for a cave. Bless you for the gift of a forgotten memory. what is Gr0k?
[n/a] Lenore @ 64.252.101.15 > god'swife | 27-Sep-02/12:17 PM | Reply
hahahah ok it should have read 'grok'. simple typo. unless you've forgotton its meaning!?? Its from the book. a deeper understanding, the deepest soulful knowing. Someone else may be able to give a better definition.
[8] god'swife @ 209.179.213.52 > Lenore | 27-Sep-02/12:20 PM | Reply
I have a terrible memory. Mores the reason for my gratitude. I'll be heading for the used book store to pick up a copy, my son and I can read it in bed together.
[8] god'swife @ 209.178.176.181 > Lenore | 27-Sep-02/7:51 PM | Reply
It seems I have not read "Stranger in a Strange Land". Iwent to the bookstore and looked at it but it was not the book I thought it was.
[n/a] <~> @ 67.84.171.10 > god'swife | 27-Sep-02/7:53 PM | Reply
it is not to be missed, mrs.g. it is simple and effective. and science fiction.
[9] vulcan @ 80.242.3.36 | 27-Sep-02/11:33 AM | Reply
Excellent Lenore!(and your view is quite right!)-I think it sounds much better if you put "Spilled gasoline after "somebody's"(but did divide it so because of "Fire"?)I liked your "every minute is a hurried whisper" 9/10 (sorry is it not a house in line19,Great anyway!)
[n/a] Lenore @ 64.252.101.15 > vulcan | 27-Sep-02/11:48 AM | Reply
Yes, the gasoline in this context is a metaphor for the person's soul. In Magick the soul is associated with fire as well as air.
line 19 is a mystery for the initiated! ;) Thanks vulcan!
[5] poetandknowit @ 65.101.211.174 | 27-Sep-02/1:43 PM | Reply
Okay, now, let's all skyclad and cloubburst, hurrah!!
[n/a] Frass @ 138.88.143.46 > poetandknowit | 27-Sep-02/6:42 PM | Reply
PAKI, you keep popping up like an unwanted postule. Lenore, you must see, if still rentable, the 1969 film, "The Conqueror Worm", with Vincent Price. Priceless, unique, disgusting, the bane of all wiccans.
[n/a] <~> @ 67.84.171.10 > Frass | 27-Sep-02/7:50 PM | Reply
frass, skyclad rocks, although i'm not much for cloudbursting. 'tis child's play. speaking of popping up, where have you been lately? z
[5] poetandknowit @ 65.101.211.186 > <~> | 27-Sep-02/8:10 PM | Reply
I have a wiccan friend and I think she is nuts! I swear she is going to burn her house down! But I suppose that is the realist in me.
[8] god'swife @ 209.178.176.181 > poetandknowit | 27-Sep-02/8:39 PM | Reply
My sister's a wiccan. She burned her apartment down 9 yrs. ago. She had a beautiful picture window in her bedroom. She placed her crystal ball in front of it, and one fine summer's afternoon it lit the bed on fire. Luckily the whole building didn't go down.
[5] poetandknowit @ 65.101.211.186 > god'swife | 27-Sep-02/9:14 PM | Reply
They are nuts with the candles or whatever they have burning. I think she mixes all sorts of religions: do the wiccans cut themselves (not like scarification or anything) but like a prick or something to offer blood during a certain time of the month. Does this have to do with menstruation? I feel terrible I usually remember everything, but when she starts going on I tune into other channels in my head.
[5] poetandknowit @ 65.101.211.186 > poetandknowit | 27-Sep-02/6:56 PM | Reply
Now Frass, why would you say something like that? I was giving this poem a compliment. Why is it you have to comment on my comments instead of coming up with your own thoughts? And what ever happened to the machismo of the mountain bike that was going to resituate me at the top of a Virginia anthill? Although I must say the 24hours of Snowshoe is quite the challenge. And I challenged you to write of love poem and you never replied. Are you a pansy?
[n/a] INTRANSIT @ 205.188.209.107 | 27-Sep-02/6:47 PM | Reply
I'm sorry I can't comment. Your level is above mine. Ienjoy reading your work though.
[n/a] <~> @ 67.84.171.10 | 27-Sep-02/7:55 PM | Reply
lenore, i like this, but i feel like you have mixed strong metaophor in with some much weaker passages. i would like to see it hones and stronger, more like an incantation: direct and powerful, as it could well be.
[8] Christof @ 195.172.133.226 | 30-Sep-02/2:45 AM | Reply
This is a bit mysterious to me as the only Wiccan I ever met was a scary South African girl who tried to seduce me at a conference. (Told me I had typical Scorpio's eyes, whatever that might mean. But it was spooky 'cos I am a Scorpio.) I didn't stick around long enough to find out whether she burnt her house down or about the elements or whatever. Nevertheless, I get the metaphors here and they're very strong. And I especially like your conclusions about the nature of God i.e. he/she/it is an invention to salve human fears.
[8] horus8 @ 24.126.113.154 | 10-Jan-03/4:53 PM | Reply
learn that: if you 'will' the words and know the names and proper shapes, everything you think , BECOMES. have you became lately? i have, and it's very refreshing.
[n/a] GregDeEgg @ 66.43.198.7 | 23-Jan-03/4:17 PM | Reply
What powerful images. I feel the ritual very plainly. Some questionable lines as far as flow goes, but overall a very powerful piece.
282 view(s)




Track and Plan your submissions ; Read some Comics ; Get Paid for your Poetry
PoemRanker Copyright © 2001 - 2024 - kaolin fire - All Rights Reserved
All poems Copyright © their respective authors
An internet tradition since June 9, 2001