She's just a witch in a goblin suit?
That's so rich. My vision's acute.
Ancient itch, I got my eye on you.

-- The Duchess Ilromie Illistarre

Wedding-Bell Blues Anxiety Pantoum for the Sausage Man

For Dwiggans

I am the witch with the wedding ring.
You are the dwarf with the sausage heart.
I worry what our love might bring.
You bring me sausage from the start.

You are the dwarf with the sausage heart.
I am an accomplished seer.
You brought me sausage from the start,
But our future remains unclear.

I am an accomplished seer,
Though now I stumble in the dark.
Our future is yet unclear,
But I'm glad at least to feel this spark.

Will you catch me when I stumble? Dark
Thoughts worse than curses for their nerve--
I'm glad at last to feel this spark--
But the telling takes a certain verve.

Think not of curses. Who has the nerve?
For I am the witch you are wedding.
Saying yes takes a certain verve:
Is there something that I'm forgetting?

For I am the witch you are wedding,
The little goblin with the ring.
Be careful now, dear: I'm forgetting
To worry what this might bring.

Love Has Changed Me

I'm still fat, I'm still green
But love has changed me.
What's that mean?

I'm still wicked, I'm still cruel
But born to love
I am the Fool.

(How does it feel to scratch the itch?
To steal the aura from the witch?)

I'm still sloppy, I'm still here
But who says love
Is not to fear?

I'm still broken. I'm still lost.
If love makes change,
I'll pay the cost.

(What shall I do to form the switch?
Shall I count each tooth inside the witch?)

I'm still dying, still alive.
Watch love take
Another five.

Still, I'm mad. Still, obscene
But he loves me
Fat, sad, and green.

(Where do I sign What's the catch?
What happy ending's owed a witch?)

I'm still. Be still.
Can't change it back.
This love's no ill
But, heart, attack.

Do You Want to See a Trick?

For Villidan

Do you want to see a trick?
And then he's gone. Hasty prick.
I clutch my stomach. Now I'm sick.

I'd show him how to take a lick
Or use his words to cut the quick.
Do yo want to see a trick?

He'd show me mine: yes, terrific.
I'd show him his: an alembic.
I clutch my stomach. Now I'm heartsick.

What a cad. You hear that click?
The box is open. In he fits.
Do you want to see a trick?

I shut the lid but can't forget.
The box is closed. What a kick.
I clutch my stomach. Getting sick.

The story goes that you're so slick,
And now you're gone, they say tragic.
But you left me to hold the trick.
I clutch my stomach. Now I'm sick.

Suite & Sour

For Vanisse

I.
Let us mourn for the Weaver of Myth,
Then ask: does any of this exist?
O what a world,
Her petals unfurled,
But not rooted in ground--now she's mist.

II.
Have you seen the Mirage of Fortune?
The queen of temporal distortion?
Our favorite myth-take
Now sunk in a lake
But I am adrift on an ocean.

III.
I say goodbye to my friend Vanisse.
Can a god make friends or find peace?
Now Serin is lonely--
Only, if only--
She'd come back. I'll save her a seat.

Elegy for Another Dark Lady

For Militha

Who will polish Mournblade now?
Who will shirk her duties?
Who keens for her among the Drow?
I sing of grief and beauty.

Who will share the latest gossip?
Who will trash the Knights?
Who will wear my favorite outfit--
A tutu--to a knife fight?

Who, who, who? I am an owl
Or something less familiar:
I hoot and scream and cry and howl.
To hear it might have killed her.

But here she lies: gone, dead, and so--
I close another chapter--
A mourning song, who's next to go?
I sing of what comes after.

A Toast

For Vargan

Raise a glass to the highest of patrons--
A toast to the Adept of Air
From your Heraldic (if biased) Matron--
We built the rest with the joy you shared.

Farewell to my benefactor.
Bye-bye to Vargan the thief.
With whom shall I now play poker?
My tell is lying through my teeth.

One last chance to honor this sweet bruv
Before we cover his eyes with stones.
He stole my heart and pried my rings off,
But we'll be pardoned these many loans.

He's gone. He's gone. Dear Vargan,
How I'll miss that peekaboo flair.
Though we'd only just begun--
Raise a glass to the Adept of Air.

Rhymes for Olgarda

One is none, and two is one--
My sister's here to have some fun.
Look out, itch, you're on the run.

Slimy toad, now meet Abyss:
A fate destined by dark hubris
And don't forget a sloppy kiss.

Crawl back home from whence you came.
Olgarda, gone, without a name--
The skin I slip left in the game.

Stay away. Stay gone. Stay put.
I'll eat your liver and your foot.
My sister hangs you on her hook.

You ran away with his eye.
Can you see us when you scry?
I can find worse ways to die.

Villanelle with One Rhyme and Two Questions

I am the witch with the ruby key.
I tried to find it, but it found me,
And that's worrisome to some degree.

I tossed it in the Dragon Sea
In a box that tamps down memory.
I am the witch with the ruby key.

Plucked from the water, returned by thieves--
Then left in my desk, it's too easy.
This worries me to some degree.

One grimoire gone, but another sings
A tune I'd remember in my sleep:
I am the witch with the ruby key.

How does one conjure a family?
When the book opens, who will I be?
Worrisome worries and by degrees.

Now to summon the eldritch baby
And shut the book tight before it eats me--
I am the witch with the ruby key--
If it worries you, then we all agree.

Dear Wylsin,

She stole your eye. You stole my babe.
I wonder what happens next.
Let us consult the astrolabe.

How many signs will I mistake?
No answers left in that ancient text--
She stole your eye, but you stole my babe.

What curses left on the name Plindane?
The last of his line, unsexed?
Let us consult the astrolabe

Or the oracle himself. Shame
On you, it's such a shame to vex
A witch . . . stole your eye. You stole my babe.

No mortal hands for the book, you say--
Did it urge you to bless me or hex?
Let us . . . let us destroy your astrolabe.

The pieces say I'm not the same.
I hear it crying for my neck.
I spit in your eye. You spat on its grave.
And I--I have broken the astrolabe.

Witch's Rap V: Triplets

I am the witch
In the mother drag:

Matron, maiden,
Your favorite hag.

I left the goblin
In my other bag.

I am the witch
in Solmundi's house--

Gone for the winter,
I've gone south

With a trail of crumbs
In my mouth.

I am the I am the
I am the witch

Whose big, fat ass
You should probably kiss.

Call me what you want.
I'm one bad bitch.

***

(A Coda)

Is that blood
Or is that tea?

Whatever I spill,
It's killing me

My husband's quit
My company.