Mabh Savage's Blog: A Celtic Witch, page 27

NaPoWriMo: A Veteran’s Guide

My thoughts, hints and tips on successfully completing NaPoWriMo, written for the Pagan Federation Disabilities Team. Read it here.

Close Circuit Life

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White noise

Light

Screaming

Electric whine

AC/DC buzz

Hum, hymn to

Sweat and blood

And tears

Not fairs

Grey hairs

And loop

And glitch

Switch

White noise

Broken toys

Nameless joys

Extended scenes

And screams

And dreams

Grey hairs

From scares

And truth

Or dares

And glitch

Switch

White noise

Heart ache noise

Heart break boys

Or girls

Or more

The score

Not settled

Heart sore

Forever more

And glitch

Switch

White noise

Big choice

New toys

Work and

Play and

AC/DC buzz

Hum, hymn to

Autonomy

Terror

They are

Now you

Clutch and reach

Hold tight

Glitch.

Image and words copyright 2018 Mabh Savage

If he ruled the world…

If he ruled the world

Celebrity vloggers would

Always tweet back

Staying up all night

Would be good for you

Books could be

Read in the dark

Screen time would just be

Time

There would be

No shouting

No fussing

No stressing

No rushing

But also

No homework

No school work

No dressing or

Teeth brushing

Smelly but happy

He would rule

From his throne

(Not at school)

Must a Man

Ten parts water

One part gin

Three parts angel

One part sin

5 and a half quarts

Ruby red

100,000 hairs

One brain, one head

One dash of anxiety

Drawn at night

One dream

One fright

One ‘it’s alright’

Two arms to hold

Hold on;

To this

A mouth to laugh

To scream

To kiss

One part fever

Three parts cold

Six parts trembling

Two parts old

Two hands, two feet

Two million steps

How many miles?

Ask Dylan instead.

Just One Taste

That little, sweet sound

As she latches on;

Pure satisfaction

Simple contentment

Though I give her

But one taste

A single flavour

Of sustenance

She is so grateful

And happy

And thus

Sustains me.

Broken Treaty

How it hurts
To be told No
When you’ve said Yes
All day
To have your love
Thrown in your face
And kindness
Thrown away
I know he tries
But then he lies
I wish I knew
The whys
Battle resumed
I man the lines
With silence
Glares
And gloom.

Shadows in the Dark

Look at that patch there

Just a little thicker

A touch more velvety

Swirling slightly

In the backdraft from the

Swinging bedroom door.

Switch on the light

And it retreats,

Like the rest of the darkness

Like any of us

Eyes abused by sudden

Sharp shock

Of luminescence

We hide our heads

Where they live.

The light is off again

The glass of water filled

The book retrieved

The phone on charge

The baby fed

The window closed

The tap tightened

The covers pulled up

Close round ears.

The thicker patches of darkness

Swirl and stream

Across the silent room

Mesmerising motion

An ocean of ink

That will never tell a story;

A shadow play.

The Wedding

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I married

The old stone wall

Hidden behind

The rhododendrons

I found it

When the snow

Angel coloured lead

Bowed the branches

White flakes

For my veil

We borrowed

The blue

Sky, old

And new

And stood in front

Of ourselves

No witnesses.

The Battle

And so begins NaPoWriMo 2018! Good luck to all who are participating.

Constant lies

Puppy dog eyes

Butter would melt

And why why whys

Driving me insane

This is my brain

Pouring out my ears

And down the drain.

Magpies

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Photo by me, Magpie through a rainy window, copyright 2017.

One for Sorrow

Two for Joy

Three for a Girl

Four for a Boy

Five for Silver

Six for Gold

Seven for a Secret

Ne’er to be told.

Ok, most of us will know some version of that rhyme, a strange form of avian divination that relies upon their never being eight magpies or more. But have you also heard:

Once a Wish

Twice a Kiss

Thrice a Letter

Four, something better…

I was taught this as a little girl, but this was also interchangeable as a sneezing rhyme.

One website, nurseryrhymes.org, gives us a further verse to the original rhyme:

Eight for a Wish

Nine for a Kiss

Ten for a Bird

You must not miss.

But this seems to me to simply be a rough amalgamation of the two rhymes, with a filler line thrown in at the end to round it off neatly.

Terry Pratchett also gave this alternative version, in Carpe Jugulum:

One for Sorrow

Two for Mirth

Three for a Funeral

Four for a Birth

Five for Heaven

Six for Hell

Seven’s the De’il

His ane Sel.

Another well known magpie superstition is to salute the birds if you should happen to see them. Or to say ‘Hello’ and touch your forelock.

All these superstitions (except the sneeze rhyme) revolve around the idea that to see a lone magpie is bad luck, and by acknowledging the bird you are breaking the curse; dispelling the bad vibes, so to speak.

Countrylife.co.uk tells us that to see a crow immediately after a magpie cancels any bad luck, which just shows how much we revere corvids in the British Isles, and how much power we associate with them.

Pica pica lonesome is a portent of doom, but a group of magpies is a mischief. What magpie superstitions do you know, and what’s local to your area?