10/06/2026
when the witches came back
they did not come
on broomsticks
they came wearing city boots
and chipped nail polish,
with coffee stains
on their spell books
and crescent moons inked
on their thighs
they came humming songs
their grandmothers buried
in silence
came with mouths full of
long-forbidden words
and hearts stitched up
from centuries of burning
they walked back
through the locked gates
of history
cloaked in forbidden names:
bruxa
hag
heretic
w***e
each syllable a spell
each breath a reckoning
they did not ask for permission
they never had
they came with dirt
under their nails
and galaxies in their eyes
with children at their hips
and wolves at their heels
with stories like knives
hidden in their hems
and when the world
asked them to explain themselves
to be gentler
smaller
less
they laughed
sharp and honeyed
and said:
“we are the daughters
of the silence you tried to keep
we are the harvest
of your forgetting
we are the resurrection
of fire
we have returned
not to haunt
but to reign”
and then
they lit their candles
drew their circles
raised their voices
and called each other
home
****************
poem ~ © Angi Sullins from my new book "Unmasking they Myths" SHIPPING FREE NOW: https://angisullins.com/shop-3-2/
GET THE PRINT! of the poem: https://angisullins.com/shop-3-2/
This page is my tribe's Red Tent Blanket Fort, and I write to find all the misfits and weirdos who belong in here with me. We have snacks. Spread the word! More about the fort: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1393715445036560&set=pb.100031943546696.-2207520000&type=3
Times are dicey out there, friends, and free speech has gotten quite expensive. Please stay in touch with me by joining my mailing list here https://angisullins.com/get-your-muse-letter-2/. It’s the way I can reach you to tell you about public appearances, live readings, and any chance we have to get together as a tribe in person. It’s the best way to keep our independence in tact and the power to communicate alive, protected from being silenced.
art credit - Anastasiya Dobrovolskaya