Love Poem to the Wicked Witch of the West
By Hollie Dugas
You had me at I’ll get you my pretty.
Wordless, I watched you generate
your ball of lightning in the sky
like a tiny sun-spell—and I knew
I wouldn’t be going back home.
If it’s shoes you covet, come here
and skin their soles from my feet.
You can hold them all you want—
your darling familiars, they are
slithering across the yellow
pavement like the drops
of my heart to you.
You are the dark and coy thorn
in my poppy-dreams. The promise
of my name entering your spooky,
cavernous mouth and taking shape
gets me winding down hell-paths
where I’m sure to encounter
your blood pact. Let’s put aside
the digging of one another’s
graves and melt our shirts off.
This heavy bucket of water I lug
around is only foreplay. Give me
your tongue like a little bat.
I’ll disappear with you
into your black bubble,
find a hundred vile ways
to become possessed by you.