Two poems by Delaney R. Olmo

"Two Witches: Alternate Versions" and "Removed Time"

Two Witches: Alternate Versions

Daughter of the witch who didn't burn, 

your identity has been stolen by death 
and given back to the woman you hated— 
empty spaces fill up like loosened teeth 

But if the house keeps idle, she cannot die. 

I wrote the truths out like a mad woman 
no one wanted to believe. Oh, the things 
I dreamed about! And the uncleansed owls 

who welcomed themselves on my doorstep 

with feathers carrying over my vengeance 
into places I haven't been able to go, but I 
won't tell you. All I can say is she will not 

wait for your return, without the rotting face. 

And this urge to write out these scenarios: 
I've played out of you inside my mind. 
When she finally died, you stood over her 

corpse waiting for those eyes to gloss over. 

I speak of such brilliantly planned maneuvers. 

These observations gave you reasons to reject 
this story and tell your version in place of the 
truth. Slandering what remained of your family 

to hide the madness cloaked around your spirit. 

Preventing your facade from crumbling, you 
moved forward without any hesitation, but 
you and I both know what is and isn't true. 

Your spirit cannot be forgiven. 

Someone knows what you fail to recognize 
even though you've locked it away inside the 
evening hallucination you still do remember. 

This bloodline has shattered by your pale 
and unkempt hands, the dead will continue 
to speak, the prisoners to the evocation of 

Those who prefer to let them speak. 

Photo by Cristian Palmer on Unsplash

Removed Time

The alabaster-skinned child. lives inside the 
trachea of a lark, falling over the ocean 
wind and whispering to the rolling 
waves - remember, you must remember.

About the author: Delaney R. Olmo is a writer who has been a finalist and semi-finalist in several contests. She is an enrolled member of the Kashia Band of Pomo Indians. A recipient of the Social Justice Writing Prize. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming to Green Linden Press, Feminist Formations, Visual Verse, Solstice Literary Journal, and many others. She holds degrees from California State University, Fresno.