Witches at the County Fair

Witches at the county fair
eat hotdogs and cotton candy.
They ride the merry-go-round.
They admire the sheep, goats, pigs,
the rabbits and chickens,
and especially the black cats –
long hairs, short hairs,
gold eyes and green eyes,
and a couple with one of each.

They ride the ferris wheel, laughing,
holding tight to their pointy hats.
They sample the pumpkin bread
with newt’s eye jam,
then gently sip the toadstool wine.
They cheer at the frog races,
thinking of old boyfriends,
and make bets with each other.
They sample some more of the toadstool wine
and wait impatiently to see who will win
Grand Champion
in handmade brooms.

“Look at that toad! Isn’t he a beauty?” Griselda exclaimed.
“It’s a she,” Esmerelda said.
“Whatever,” Griselda responded. “No wonder he won champion and grand champion.”
“She,” Esmerelda persisted as the witches walked
past the toad judging area of the county fair
To the giant hairy spiders.
“Look at that one!” Magrid gasped.
“It’s waving its front legs at me!
Look at the eyes all over its head!
And look! It’s for sale!”

“Let’s look at the rest of the exhibits,” Ziporah said quickly.
They continued into the exhibit hall
To the toadstool wine and the handmade brooms.
It was hard to get a good look
With all the other witches standing around,
and there was a long line to try the wine.
“Move along, dearie. You’ve had enough,” Griselda yelled.
Other witches agreed.
One by one they paid their money and got their wine.
They turned their attention to the brooms.
They were beautiful, and there were more than last year –
A good sign for the future.

Carole read this poem to us during a recent ritual and we loved it so much we wanted to share it with you, dear reader. We can visualize the illustrations to go with it, can you? Maybe Carole will turn it into a song some day. In the meantime, we hope it brings you happy memories of county fairs of the harvest season.