When I was a boy

I believed that witches

were real.

Even good ones.

The Witch in the Wizard of Oz

scared me,

the pointy shoes

and I cheered when Dorothy

and her friends

dropped a house on her

tired withered body.

I reasoned that good witches

could wear high heeled shoes,

all black, stiletto points

and daggers in the stamped down male foot,

when we didn’t behave.

Dorothy, I thought,

you can leave those witches be.

Ian D. Hall 2017