Dom Conlon, poet & author

Category: Stories From The Witch Cord

  • The Lace Witch

    A story from The Witch Cord On one of the times Aggy Sampson turned twelve there was no school. It wasn’t that there was no school that day, there was simply no school. There was no school for anyone like her. There wasn’t even much of a birthday, truth be told. The woman who had…

  • The Mist Witch

    A story from The Witch Cord There was something peculiar about the man who knocked on our door that morning. I was closest to it and so I pulled it open, my father shouting “You won’t be missed” as I did. “Who won’t be missed?” the man asked, bowing his head below the top beam…

  • The Starwort Witch

    A story from The Witch Cord She is asleep under the water. She. Just she. They hadn’t bothered to give her a name when she was born. Nor did they think of one as she lay on the tattered mat just one side of the door jamb. Names were uttered, certainly. Names thrown and dropped…

  • The Prom Witch

    A story from The Witch Cord The blue dress is gone and whilst I no longer want to find it, I still wear it in my dreams. I picked it up on the shore and it was not blue then. It was the colour of a still born calf beneath an amniotic tide. The colour…

  • The Gate Witch

    A story from The Witch Cord “Elizabeth,” she said, looking at me with eyes that had clawed their way from the fires of Hell. “It’s your turn now.” Mad Joan, they called her. Tugged her hair when she was little and gossiped about her when she was old. We all knew her. Our mams told…

  • The Sea Witch

    A story from The Witch Cord James Grave clutched the thick rope and held his breath. They had lost the jolly boat early in the storm and now he felt the familiar tide of nausea swell deep in his stomach. As the ship rose and pitched in the shifting valleys of the sea, he ran…

  • One Knot, Two Knot—a nursery rhyme

    from the Wicked Children’s Book of Nursery Rhymes One knot two knot three knot do not knot the cord at night. Four knot five knot six knot why not knot the cord at night? Seven knot eight nine knot slip knot the hangman’s noose is tight. — [sc name=”Coffee”] Illustration from The British Library.

  • The Hill Witch—a nursery rhyme

    from the Wicked Children’s Book of Nursery Rhymes I grew from the touch of weeds and wood I grew from the taste of ripe red blood I grew from the sound of boots in mud I grew and I grew from where you stood You fell and they left and went away You fell and…

  • The Bind Witch—a nursery rhyme

    from the Wicked Children’s Book of Nursery Rhymes She is hiding from the stars in the forest of your dreams. She holds the shadows on her face and nothing’s what it seems. The Bind Witch is waiting. She gathers all the wind up in the tangle of her hair. She bends across the pathways to…

  • The Chain Witch

    A Story from The Witch Cord 1. These weren’t the best of times to be meeting in secret. The harvest was in and the line between day and dark was drawn tight as a thread. But best not say that. Tight as a thread meant knots, and knots was what had caused Hilda all that…