The Last Witch of Ireland
poetry • #8
are you a witch or are you a fairy
or are you the wife of Michael Cleary
or are you the wife of Michael Cleary
By Maureen Clark
✷
still a skiff of snow and a chill wind as Bridget walked home
after delivering eggs hints of her red petticoats showing
after delivering eggs hints of her red petticoats showing
her only sin buying a sewing machine being an independent woman
when she took sick her husband called the doctor who gave medicine
and the fairy doctor who said the woman in the bed was not Bridget Cleary
and gave Michael an herbal potion of foxglove with nine cures in it
her husband saw a changeling in her place and poured the sour liquid
down her throat to make her vomit the fairies out
locked the family inside the cottage aunt and brothers
twisted her above the fire in a sheet to squeeze the fairies out
poured urine over her three times put a hot poker to her forehead
unconscious when her nightgown caught she lit up like a pine tree
Michael poured paraffin over her sat in the rocking chair
and watched her burn constables found her body
buried in a shallow bog charred torso
and a bag over her head body was burned black
fairies were not a good enough defence
though the men of the family insisted she was a changeling
four policemen reburied her at midnight by the light of a single lantern
fishermen say you can still see the fairy ring around the grave
✷
Maureen Clark’s first book “This Insatiable August” was released by Signature Books in 2024. She has been nominated twice for a 2024 Pushcart Prize. Her memoir “Falling into Bountiful: Confessions of a Once Upon a Time Mormon” won Honorable Mention in the 2024 Utah Original Writing Competition. She received her MFA from the University of Utah, where she taught writing for 20 years. She was president of Writers @ Work 1999-2001. Her poetry has appeared in numerous journals, including Gettysburg Review, Alaska Quarterly, Thimble Literary Journal, Cool Beans Literary Magazine and Kestrel. www.maureenclark.art
