The Crow & The Winter Witch (poem)

by Stephen J Frankenberry

So at dVerse Poets this week Kim had an eye check-up for a new prescription and part of the check-up was to read from laminated test cards of different size fonts in sentences and below each of the sentences were sets of four words. She thought these sets of four words would make a cool poetics prompt.

And, thus, said prompt from Kim? To choose one or two sets of words and write a poem using them in the order in which they appear. There was a bit more possible to the prompt but I was good … thanks Kim.

Here are the sets of words:

(I chose the sets in bold)

nose – one – cause – even
were – crone – our – summer
name – use – means – arose
near – can – remove – sure
crow – verse – see – renew
assume – once- van – sum
aware – caves – sea – cream

The Crow & The Winter Witch

The crow walks as if his smart, stone counting, building stick were cigar

like Groucho

or cane for crone who invites him for company’s perch and old silly movies

in cold months

and caws crow joke verse for friends to hear

and see

in funny slide skip dance steps

on out warm window sills

that make old lonely

fairy tale’d spoke

bent magic’d women

laugh

and friends cackle

in wing’d giggle flitting fits

away

while he lingers her equally bent house

in the winter wood

“our bent house”

he thinks

to while away until

Spring

then Summer

renew

her time to wait on lost children

in the wood

for new Grimm tales be written  

14 thoughts on “The Crow & The Winter Witch (poem)”

  1. I enjoyed your take on Grimm’s fairy tales, Stephen, especially as it has a crow and a winter witch. I love the description of the Groucho-like crow’s walk, and the idea of the crow and the crone watching ‘old silly movies in cold months’. The ‘funny slide skip dance steps’ on warm window sills made me laugh like a ‘bent magic’d’ woman.

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