if you have a witch ancestor
you’ll end up someplace like Pendle Hill
there might have been a forest once
hard to tell now the hill is barren
sheep graze it tightly cropped fields
and the green is everywhere green
early spring the lamb’s still have their tails
nothing much has changed in 400 years
Pendle Hill sits like an overturned ship
a massive barrow on the land
narrow roads edged in slate walls snake
through the villages
you can imagine Alizon Device
rushing home afraid her magic
really did lame the peddler
Alice Nutter opening the door
at Malkin Tower to greet old friends
witches lived there
if you believe in such things
Pendle Hill with a summit less than
half the elevation of my home in Utah
was the tallest thing for miles
women did gather here in 1612
on that Good Friday to eat
and talk and some of them
called themselves witches
Maureen Clark’s first book “This Insatiable August” was released by Signature Books in 2024. Her memoir “Confessions of a Once Upon a Time Mormon Girl,” was released by Hypatia Press in 2026. She received her MFA from the University of Utah where she taught for 20 years.
