The First Witch of Boston

by Andrea Catalano

for this land, this place at the edge of the world, was about to execute a woman for the sin of being a woman.

For you are about to execute an innocent woman. You are about to execute an innocent woman for the crime of being a woman, a woman who lived fully, spoke plainly, listened intently, observed acutely, intuited wisely, loved passionately. I am too much for this world of yours, this Jerusalem upon a hill.” I spat upon the ground. “I am a force that makes you quake!”

Yes!

God damn this war, all wars. In the end, it were always the powerless and the innocent who suffered most.