Zoe Mitchell
Jailers jingle keys and coins in their pockets
as she walks through the corridor of a grey
morning. Dew cold-softens the rungs
of the ladder and her toes curl to grip
each bar as – steadily – she rises up
a creaking platform built by sturdy men.
The rope around her neck is rough-woven,
each scratch beckoning her from her soft hide,
pulling down through the pap of a secret
inside. As her lungs wheeze, her throat slowly
closes – her daughter is too slight to break
her neck and swings bootless from rope-jerked feet.
This is her last dance. Every step taken
by cunning women leads to the gallows.
***
Zoe Mitchell lives and works on the South Coast. She has been published in a number of national poetry magazines including The Rialto, The London Magazine and The Moth. She is currently studying for a PhD in Creative Writing at the University of Chichester, focused on witches in women’s writing. She recently won the Indigo-First Collection Competition and her first poetry collection will be published by Indigo Dreams Publishing in 2019. www.twitter.com/WritingByZoe