The Witch Who Wore Bloody Shoes

by Melissa Silva

They thought it was

from sacrificing animals,

slicing open the belly

of a beast,

slaughtering small pigs,

offering up a burnt bird

They thought it

was from her monthly,

deep sanguine dripping

down her thighs,

mixing with black earth,

making mud

But it was from walking through

a world filled with

bloody fields,

bloody battles,

the bloodied bodies of

other women,

Witches all

* * * * *

Melissa Silva is a Poet and a Nurse, living in the Boston area. She has studied storytelling and performance, Oral Traditions, Asian, Contemporary, and Experimental Poetry. She is a co-founder of the Poetry Sisters Collective and was a member of the performing collective Storytellers in Concert. Her poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Tuck Magazine, The Lily Review, One Sentence Poems, Bonsai, and others. She does promotion for Červená Barva Press, Somerville, MA.