The Witch’s Hearing – a poem by Katerina Neocleous

The Witch’s Hearing

A wasp had flown in earlier
while I’d been busy
getting ready, a creature
easily misunderstood.
I helped it leave my room
.
and asked it, to rid me
of my ills – a heavy task
for such small wings –
or take my plea upwards,
and intercede for me.
.
Outside, the breeze sets
a birch ablaze
with trembling sunlit leaves;
while decollated cherubs
hover over mounted cameras
.
and laminated exit signs:
a stick figure bolts into
an empty square, salvation
indicated by an arrow
pointing down, at court 2.
.
When my secret trial starts
I must not risk contempt
by speaking: the family judge
has alerted everyone about my
poisonous maternal eloquence.
.
I will be a humble appellant and
sit with hands in lap, head down
in a plain shift – surrender to
a higher justice – pray my child
stays with me, protected.

Katerina Neocleous is assistant editor of the poetry journal, Obsessed With Pipework. She is widely published in magazines; and has two pamphlets forthcoming in 2019 – one from Maytree Press, and another through Obsessed With Pipework and Flarestack Publishing. She is also a mother and gardener. For more information please visit her at visionsfromhell.wordpress.com