The Witch in Winter

The Witch in Winter
By Lorraine Schein

When the snow falls, it covers everything --
and the people in the village
and the children in the town
watch the snow falling,
falling down.

But the witch in her forest cottage
watching her cauldron bubble and cook,
is much too busy to go to
her white-piled window to look.

Her cat goes to the window
to watch the swirling snow fall --
but his mistress doesn’t see it
at all, at all.

When the snow falls, it covers everything --
and the people in the village
and the children in the town
watch the snow falling,
falling down.

* * *

Lorraine Schein is a New York writer. Her work has appeared in VICE Terraform, Strange Horizons, Full Bleed, Enchanted Conversation, and Little Blue Marble, in the anthology Tragedy Queens: Stories Inspired by Lana del Rey & Sylvia Plath, and in Hybrid Fiction. The Futurist's Mistress, her poetry book, is available from Mayapple Press. 

What advice do you have for other poets? 

Keep on writing and try not to compare yourself with prose writers, even though you will probably never be as widely read or well-compensated. Also, don't take sides in the form/rhyme vs. free verse camps—try to write in both styles. I enjoy writing poems in both, and my poem here shows one facet of my various styles. 

The Three Fates

The Three Fates

by Lorraine Schein

FATE. Zoom, a fate blue around the edges heads for you. Your life is changed; there's nothing you can do.

FATE. Fate, called Moira by the Greeks, is a great power older than the oldest gods. Moira is a woman. Prophecy is fate's handmaiden. Plato thought fate and love were the same. The word fairy also means fate. In Old Norse, the word for fate is the same as that for the sexual organs.

FATE. Your lover is walking toward you, as is Death. Their faces reflect each other--shimmering, superimposed, the features of one becoming the shadows on the other.

* * *
Lorraine Schein is a NY writer. Her work has appeared in Strange Horizons, VICE Terraform, Syntax and Salt, and Star*Line and in the anthologies Gigantic Worlds, Tragedy Queens: Stories Inspired by Lana del Rey & Sylvia Plath, and Multiverse–An International Anthology of SF Poetry. The Futurist’s Mistress, her poetry book, is available from mayapplepress.com.

What advice do you have for other poets?

Fantasy in poetry is part of a long tradition, that has been mostly usurped by what is thought of as good modern poetry today. So be aware your writing is participating
in a history of great poems, but also play with fantasy tropes to create something fresh. Also don’t give up on old poems—I wrote “The Three Fates” over 20 years ago!

Triptych

Triptych

by Lorraine Schein

Alchemical images of uniting:
A king dissolving in water,
A dragon embracing a woman in a grave,
Two animals fighting.

I am the king, long drowned, dissolving in his watery kingdom-‑
I am the water dissolving you.

I am the dragon, embracing the lovely one in her grave, desired ingredient for his magic‑‑
I am the rotting corpse of the fair lady, finally loved.

I am the bloody animal, fangs bared, on top, winning the battle--
I am the animal below, haunches torn ‑‑ but ecstatic,
finding my own kind at last.

All love is linked incongruity,
Oddness and conflict.
True uniting: apparent disparity.

* * *

Lorraine Schein is a New York writer. Her work has appeared in Gargoyle, Strange Horizons, Nonbinary Review, Mad Scientist Journal, Evil Girlfriend Media, and the anthologies Gigantic Worlds, Drawn to Marvel, and Mosaics: An Anthology of Independent Women. Her poetry book, The Futurist’s Mistress, is available from mayapplepress.com.

What inspires you to write and keep writing?

I have written poetry since childhood, so it’s always come from a natural inner need to do so. I keep writing to continue to express that inner self and in the hope I can contribute something original to the world.

What do you think is the most important aspect of a fantasy story? 

For me as a poet, it’s the imagery, even in stories. The images in fantasy stories are what stay in my mind even many years later, and can become the basis for a new retelling.