Cape Ann Whale Watching
gentle giants of the sea
Listen! Thar she blows!
Thar She Blows!
Flutters from Heaven
As I searched for seaglass this morning, I was reminded of my mother’s love of angel wings, shells joined together in the shape of wings. “No way,” I thought when I hoped to find a pair, because the rocks would have crushed them. But how wonderful would it be to have a hello from Mom in heaven?! Then I stepped down onto the shore of White Wharf, and there she spoke! She was listening…..
Souvenirs
Sunrise seaglass search
Surfside, seeking shattered shards
Seaside souvenirs
Rockport Walk
Rockport Walk
early morning walk
in Rockport, Massachusetts
streets of Bearskin Neck
waves crash on sea wall
breakfasting gulls skim the surf
sunrise fish morsels
lobster fisherman
revving up Amie’s engine
moored at Tuna Wharf
coastal New England
autumn splendor holds such charms
travelers revel
Witch Pranks
Witch Pranks
When a witch at night goes
walking with a witch, at times
a black cat will appear and a
witch will pretend not to know. A witch
will try not to cackle but will
turn her head to not seem
suddenly to be privy to pranks
and in looking serious will struggle to pretend she’s at peace against truth.
To keep her promise to an elder, she’ll
look at her own shadow, unknown
at dark, an image she’ll force into something lionish in appearance, stronger than
very evil spells, a prank funnier than a small cat in a window, then reveal herself!
A triple golden shovel poem using three vertical lines from Elizabeth Willis’s “The Witch”
The Spell Shelf
The Spell Shelf
An injustice causes an
unrepentant wife to use overwhelming
witch potions as a power that
may cripple a cheater, compels her to
be in control of her
“converted” husband, to treat him
with his own golden rule, to take
a voodoo stab at “something
little,” then heft a blow from a
lead pipe and hold a lit match
in dead places once rich with desire…
the Foster’s Effect of a man’s roving
eye are punished from the spell shelf…
Frog Tea
Frog Tea
A double golden shovel poem using two vertically written lines from Elizabeth Willis’s “The Witch”
A fellow traveler and I visited a
witch to have frog tea… I
will tell you the oracles we heard:
gaze at a past of
wistfully longing but a future
at taking your poor outlook to
the dump. Become a woman of
glitter by changing the present
of today. A woman herself makes
a difference by looking into a
clear yellow owl’s eye on a dark
night. Never trust a pigeon.
Knots
Knots
If her mate is a bore she takes
her potions and a witch finds her husband. She may regret it when he
dies (and it won’t be difficult to pretend
“unexpectedly”) as he is burned to ashes
She heads for Salem to overcome “grief”
may speak against tying the knot and refuse her own knots of sadness
to be justified in death of love, never again
marry, and take a peek at the memories of his sad marriage and at last call her
brother before bed to start a new war.
A triple Golden Shovel poem using three lines from “The Witch” by Elizabeth Willis
Uncovenly
Uncovenly
the uncovenly witch conspires with the devil as her soul’s ointment– she
does not socialize on full moons, does
not stir the cauldron or
speak to (or back at) others,
to preserve her silent will;
a moral will allow a
witch the choice to ignore you but
he – the devil – says to speak
only to those who fly high as he
moves stoically through hell, gnashing
his teeth on the wagging
tongue of the air
Don’t Buy Cheap Witchpowder
Don’t Buy Cheap Witchpowder
a mortal’s attempted enchanting of a
witch with Walmart witchpowder
can (or may) boomerang a toxic
charm and be lethal snake’s
milk in a hidden fang
from a witch’s tooth in a deathly smile,
an incantation of a venomous backfiring – like an ax in a girl’s back, its bloody
handle swathed in golden locks of hair
A Double Golden Shovel poem using two vertical lines from Elizabeth Willis’s “The Witch”
Common Threads 