Under the Purple Leaf
Something about the faerie girl
the way she makes the green leaf curl
to show it’s purple blood within
then laughs beneath its tarpaulin,
something about her isn’t right
and yet she's perfect in the night,
her violet eyes that come and go
too bright, too wise in the briar shadow
as she steps her ivory feet, each toe
bends like wicker in her leafy shoe;
something about her smiling seems
to drift the air with breathing dreams.
She's so wicked soft and small
she almost isn’t there at all
under the tumbling purple where
the moon casts darkness on her hair.
Something about the faerie girl
makes my northern neckhairs curl,
makes me back up pace by pace
and leave her here to own this place.
June 2011
(Originally Posted for OneShootSunday at the inimitable OneStopPoetry)
Note: the photograph used for this prompt is no longer available for duplication,
but Purple Phase, by Rob Hanson, can still be viewed on
but Purple Phase, by Rob Hanson, can still be viewed on
Lovely poem Hedgswitch - purple is a colour of passion and I think you've caught that beautifully in this poem !! Steve
ReplyDeletenice. love the playful rhyme scheme which sets you up nicely for the creepy feeling that grows by the end of the verse...something just isnt right eh...yeah...
ReplyDelete'Tis said the unconscious other person within -- anima, animus, Ourania, the Kelpie of Corryvreckan -- all fey folk -- live at the liminal edge where the veil between the worlds are thin. According to Jung, they are there to invite us Over and In, are personifications of Inwardness and Subjectivity, luring us to deep old lost places for better (poetry) or ill (madness). Always a bit of doubt whether it was boon or doom this one promises, crooking her finger in invitation, eerily laughing in the wonderveld of this florid poem. Do you really wanna go there? Merlin was enthralled by Nimue's spell and found her charm a prison; there may not be handles on the other side of the door this elven marvel invites you through. Rational minds wisely avoided the deeps and seeps, writing on the edges of known maps that beyond lie dragons. The diction and lilt of this is so silken, surely a fairy-charm, refuted by a poet who's already gotten lost in LaLaLand and learned her lesson. Dorothy has the ruby combat boots to prove that Emerald Cities lavish on a black stalk of razor-throrn'd storm. Raised my hair, too, almost getting lost in the lavish lyric here. Thanks for hauling me back out by the soles. - Brendan
ReplyDeleteReading this made the hairs on my neck stand up too (they always curl, lol). Love the deliciously sinister feel of your faerie tale!
ReplyDeleteI can't remember when last I was so captivated by a fairy poem (usually I avoid such subjects). I was transported, from the first stanza, to a place far beyond the modern distortion/ commercialization of fairies - back to faerie, to my childhood when these beings existed. If you told me you had faeries at the bottom of your garden, I would not doubt it to be true.
ReplyDeleteha ha ha ha I like this, Makes them other worldly people seem so not Disney!
ReplyDeleteLoved the form and meter near 100% on the rhythm.
This is wonderfully imagined and the details are a (ahem) joy. I especially like:
ReplyDelete"as she steps her ivory feet, each toe
bends like wicker in her leafy shoe;
something about her smiling seems
to drift the air with breathing dreams."
I have to say, though, that I am stunned that our same Witch who has faced down (poetical) ghosts and (real) canna leaf rollers should be stopped cold by a fairie! Ah well, back away slowly, don't make eye contact, and leave her to me. ;-)
ah she hides something under her softness...love the contrast of the "careless" rhymes and the creepy feeling at the end..
ReplyDeleteI loved this tale!
ReplyDeletesomething about her smiling seems to drift the air with breathing dreams... really cool.
ReplyDelete"something about her smiling seems
ReplyDeleteto drift the air with breathing dreams."
Lovely. There is a melodic charm befitting your composition—which is complex in terms of speaker's relationship to subject. An quite a powerful end to make the speaker retreat and lose ownership. What I appreciate most is that each stanza leads the imagination; woven in lyrical fantasy.
beautifully written
ReplyDeletei really like this part:
something about her isn’t right
and yet she's perfect in the night,
That's great. I was told recently that purple is the colour of protection and I've been wearing more of it lately. I love this poem because it feels like it's talking to me personally.
ReplyDeleteDelightfully haunting and playful. (Hugs)Indigo
ReplyDeleteNow this is one cool faerie, not one of those insipid little Disneyesque creatures! Love it!
ReplyDeleteAnd her name was psilocybis cubensis...
ReplyDeletePutting character to nature and breathing out the life that reverberates through this colored curling...a strange and melodic little creature put before our eyes. Sorry the fairy was too much for you to handle though! ;)
ReplyDeleteI really really enjoyed this poem hedgewitch! Very cleverly written. I felt like If I had seen the Faerie girl, I too would be both mesmerized and chilled to the bone. Thank you for sharing!
ReplyDelete~Corbie Sinclair
Absolutely a delight to read, Ms. Hedgewitch. Your talents are so versatile. Hey, I love your little mouse on the side:)
ReplyDeleteLovely feel of a traditional oral poem. I can hear this spoken to a pipe and drum. As its proclaims both the beauty and danger of faery folk that we of the meadow and day should tread carefully in forest by dusk or moon
ReplyDeleteOh just love the rhyme in this Joy...a fancyful treat of taking a trip with this lovely child of the forest into a place of wonder and magic...truly a joy to read...bkm
ReplyDeleteBeing 'not right' and yet 'perfect' . . . oh yes.That last stanza is a wonderful revelation. Great work here. I'm loving your forms in these last posts.
ReplyDeleteThe place where beauty and poison meet is a little pool in the woods, not to far from your house apparently. We just don't know of the epic battles fought there, just that it may be the last source of true magic left...and the faeries are pissed. Great job....gets me going.
ReplyDeleteI got goosebumps reading this, as though that little faerie girl were tickling her fingers along the nape of my neck. Love it.
ReplyDeleteThis is enchanting .... as I read it, I flashed back to a very young Elizabeth Taylor with those violet eyes and shiny black hair.
ReplyDeleteI remember this poem well, remember thinking: Damn, I'm reading a poem about fairies and loving every bit of it :)
ReplyDeleteGreat! Thanks for the pairing.
ReplyDelete'something about her isn’t right
ReplyDeleteand yet she's perfect in the night,'
sounds like my entire pre-marriage dating life. ;-)
wonderful piece
Lovely in lilt, rhythm and rhyme. Love the careful backing away at the end.
ReplyDeletemagical piece.a midsummer night's dream kinda piece.loved it.
ReplyDeleteLoved reading this one again!
ReplyDeleteI agree with Kerry, I'm not really into faerie things, but this is different. This is perfect, Joy. I love it. And your photo with it. I looked at a lot of farm machinery and came up with two possibles on Rob Hanson's site, but neither of them seemed to fit your poem as your own photo does.
ReplyDeleteK
ooh i love this, love the rhymes, so effective. it's gorgeous and stay away from those damn faeries!
ReplyDeleteGotta love playing with colours ;)
ReplyDeleteThis poem is magical!
ReplyDeleteMysterious and a bit spooky. I'd leave her to own the place as well!
ReplyDeleteI love this one! I love your expressive view, the photo and the magic n' mystery of flowers! :D
ReplyDeleteif literature teaches us anything it's to beware of the faeries.
ReplyDeleteenchantment is a double edged wand.
hard to back away from that, i'd think.