I don’t write much poetry–I’m more of a prose man when it comes to writing–but I do dabble a bit in poetry when what I’ve got to say lends itself best to that form. So I’m very surprised and pleased to announce that I’ll have my first published poem, “Song of Salem,” hit the stands this summer in the anthology Entombed in Verse: An Epitaph for Salem, a collection of poems about Salem, Massachusetts focusing on its culture and heritage, including, of course, the infamous witch trials. “Song of Salem” is a Golden Shovel poem, which takes a quote from an existing work and then uses each word from that quote as an end word in a way that comments or expands on the original quote. The jumping off for “Song” is a quote from the infamous Malleus Maleficarum, or “Hammer of Witches,” used for over two hundred years to identify, try, and execute witches, including those killed in Salem:
“To conclude: All witchcraft comes from carnal lust, which is in women insatiable.”
If you are so inclined, you can pre-order the collection from Fundead Publishing at the link above or wait for it to be available on Amazon in print and ebook format sometime this summer.
Jon Etter 