[content warning: this poem
contains disturbing thoughts]
Here’s the truth. 15
times more witches were murdered in scotland
than england.
1563 was the year of the scottish
witchcraft act. It made witchcraft
a capital offense.
1560 is the year parliament adopted
its confession of faith and national
kirk. Calvinist.
In scotland witches were killed
by strangulation. Normally.
In 1596-97 forty five women
and two men in my adopted hometown
were accused of witchcraft
22 women and one man
were found guilty of witchcraft
and executed.
There were 5 times more prosecutions
for witchcraft in scotland
than europe.
In my hometown one
family of 5 was accused of witchcraft
three were banished, one was strangled one
burnt. They have names.
Statisticians find correlations between numbers.
These numbers speak truths
I don’t think sorcery.
(Summer solstice, 2024)
'They have names.' Not 'had,' the respect you show in this sentence alone says so much. Thank you for sharing.
So powerful! I always think of one of the tests they gave those accused of witchcraft. If they could swim, they were witches, and if they drowned, they weren’t.