Sweet rage of thunder calms
the crashing of my youth, I
struck and glass shattered
as if I’d tripped and turned all over myself
on purpose, or as if punished.
Sour grief, I light a flame
and bury a girl, no, burn.
A banging, my beat on my drum, releases
the stagnation that holds thick in the air, when
rain will not break, when
thoughts run too dry.
Pity, pity me, when a heart breaks,
when my jaw aches or my
frail emotions were more
than my half-empty glass could take.
There’s rebirth in
a candle flame and a
balefire, and in
a scream.
Bethany Moore is a poet, practicing witch, and cannabis activist, and enjoys the study of healing, alchemy, and ritual work. She is also a singer and lyricist, and produced an album in 2013 called Witchrock by producer Burntsystems.
In the early 2000s, she participated in spoken-word poetry circles in Washington, D.C., and currently manages multimedia and communications projects at the National Cannabis Industry Association, including hosting a weekly podcast on CannabisRadio.com.
She self-published her two debut books of poems within weeks of each other in September and October of 2016. Her most recent book, published October 2017, is a short-story, dark fairytale about a Witch and her quest for love titled “A Witch’s Tale: the taming of a daemon.” Her 2018 poetry collection is forthcoming as the title “Crying Spells: rituals of bone, blood, and sorrow.”
Photo: @caitofosterphoto
South Broadway Ghost Society 