New Forest Hedge Witch

by Paul Tristram / May 26th, 2019

It’s the very first time
that I’ve actually smelt ‘Charisma’,
it’s beech wood smoke,
sweet cider, and warm PVC.
Encyclopaedia eyes,
I stood, mostly, transparent before her.
She cast the stones,
and chicken bones,
through a cloud of sage.
“Fascinating” She winked,
“You, not the Runes.
My, but you’re an old one,
they cut you outta different stuff”
I watched her gnarly fingers help to explain,
just like children sometimes do.
No theatrics,
her voice wind-whispered
and wave-lapped
in perfect synchronicity
with her ever twisting,
sparrow hawk, focus.
I had a momentary
out-of-body experience
roughly halfway through.
At the goodbye doorstep,
I tried for the 2nd time to give her money,
but, she shook my hand away with a
“They Said Not A Penny, You’re Special.”

Paul Tristram is a widely published Welsh writer who deals in the Lowlife, Outsider, and Outlaw genres.  He wrote his first poem as a teenager following his release from the (Infamous) Borstal ‘HMP Portland’, and he has been creating Literary Terrorism ever since.  His novel ‘Crazy Like Emotion’ published by Close To The Bone Publishing is available to purchase right here Read other articles by Paul, or visit Paul's website.

This article was posted on Sunday, May 26th, 2019 at 8:03am and is filed under Poetry.