a bit of thread, black

tied tight around this

Hathorne1poppet who cares

not enough to know my

name, but removes me

from the world, all the same.


a bit of thread, red

knotted over the mouths

of Ann & Mary2, who bled

untruths from tongues

loosed, cries and shakes

just from my stare, enough to 

induce— 

            this witch, unawares.


poppets, poppets

dance for me,

slide through fire,

singed with flame,

with coals for feet,

may the heat of your lies

burn within, your lips

blotted black with sin.


i call for justice,

i call for power,

i call in the name of:

the weak,

the poor,

the unwashed,

the unwanted.


i bind your cords as

these threads burn,

i still your tongues

& break your power.


this little girl,

unjustly handled,

robbed of youth— 

has grown into 

what you fear,

manifested power


no longer denied.

through this hex

            i heal & protect.

[1]                1John Hathorne signed the warrant to arrest Dorothy Good (4 years old) for witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts. He misspelled her name as “Dorcas” on the official warrant.

[1]                2Mary Walcott and Ann Putnam, Jr. were witnesses against Dorothy claiming she had bitten them and behaved like an animal.


Bio: Juliette van der Molen is a writer and poet living in the Greater NYC Area. She is an intersectional feminist and a member of the LGBTQIA community. She is a poetry editor for Mookychick Magazine and author of Death Library: The Exquisite Corpse Collection, Mother, May I? and Anatomy of A Dress. She was nominated for the Pushcart Prize in 2018. Her work has also appeared in Burning House Press, Memoir Mixtapes, Collective Unrest and several other publications. Forthcoming books include: Little Ordinary Things (February 2020) and Confess: The untold story of Dorothy Good (TBA 2020). She tweets at @j_vandermolen

Image: jodielaurahex