Just in time for Halloween: five of my poems will appear the Fall/Winter 2019 issue of The Stray Branch.
I wrote the poem "Witchcraft" on a whim.
It is a love poem and while the atmosphere of the poem attempts to recreate a gloomy mood associated with a Shakespearean play, the undertones of the poem are, arguably, ironic.
The underlying idea in the poem mimics Carmen's stance in the aria "L' amour est un oiseau rebelle" (Love is a wayward bird) from the opera "Carmen" by Georges Bizet.
In this famous aria, Carmen states:
"Si tu ne m'aimes pas, je t'aime Et si je t'aime, prends garde à toi Prends garde à toi "
"And if you don't love me, I do love you
And if I love you, beware, my sweet.
Beware my sweet."
The poem is rooted in an evening I spent at the Opera House in Bucharest: while watching "Carmen", someone who accompanied me at this event humorously pointed out the refrain to me.
I did not think much of it at the time.
But later on, this moment resurfaced, crossed paths with some scenes from Shakespeare's "Macbeth" that were foggily playing in my mind and the above poem emerged.
Being of a very impressionable nature when it comes to Shakespeare's plays, I ended
the poem in the blood-stained, colorful manner of Lady Macbeth.
Not sure if she would approve - but there it is.
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