Personal Fairytale by Christine Emmert

I am the Witch in the story. Not the Maiden.

I live in caves along the hollows of Cliffs.

My dance is on the sea-waves, not in ballrooms.

Men do not win me. I win them.

I cheat and threaten until they are worn down

into the smoothness of a river stone.

Someone must speak for the Witches.

We too were maidens once.

I saw the castle from a great distance.

I set off in the woods.

What I found there was a mouth hungrier than that of the Wolf.

My mouth. My hunger.

And the good fairy that leapt from behind the tree

changed me from victim to predator.

I am the Witch in the story, not the Maiden.

Bio

Christine Emmert is an actress, director, writer and educator. She lives in the woodlands of Pennsylvania with her husband Richard. Her work has been read and performed throughout the United States as well as in Canada and the UK. Two of her novellas, The Nun's Dragon and Lillith, can be found on Amazon. She is, perhaps at this time in her life, more crone than witch.

Author's note

Thoughts on my "Personal Fairytale": I have always been fascinated by the concept of the Witch. Are they are something apart, or the evolution of a girl disillusioned by the mundane? As a writer I wanted to express something of their possible backstory. As an actress I have played witches and found deep channels of contradictions in their actions. This poem tries to put these attitudes together.