BRINY WAS THE SEEING IN THAT SALT WOMAN’S EYE A briny tale may be as long as the full turn of a tide in its telling. This one was woven through with wind and waves and wild crags, as well as shifting shapes and the pulsing resonance of the great ocean drum. Born from the […]
THE TWISTED HAZEL Here is the dawning of the spring where new light rolls over the woods and meadows. Here is the land, freshly washed by the pale sun. Here is a silver cord of water trailing across the marshes. Here comes a cloud of small birds, swerving and chattering in loops above the ground. […]
THE GIRL-AT-HEART It is a well-weathered fact that in any assemblage of older women there will always be some who maintain that, inside themselves, they feel the weight of not a single year beyond their glorious and sensual prime; that, despite their accumulation of time and wrinkling, they are really still a girl-at-heart and that […]
SEALY STONES Translations: korkãkã – marsh or bog, old woman of the peatlands; mori-wailî – sea wolf, also known as seal; mori-ammantî – grandmother of the sea or ocean mother; koun – clan or kinship group Along the rolling, crashing north Atlantic edge an ancient myth exists, born from the brine and often sung with […]
A CURSE ON IRONING Four hags sat by a warm stove supping hot tea through the chill of a winter afternoon. Their feet were thickly socked and their hands were busy with all manner of small and clever crafts. They were discussing the weather, of course, and the on-going annoyances of housework. “Indeed it is […]
BE WARY OF LOVERS WHO COME FROM THE GREENWOOD This faery-led story always began with words of caution: “be wary of lovers who come from the greenwood, take heed of sweet bells.” The young people would laugh; the older ones would roll their eyes secretly, warily. The tale dreamer would smooth out her tale, gather […]
