Queen of Winter

Cailleach, the Celtic winter queen,
atop the Cliffs of Moher, her domain
the time from Samhainn to Bealltainn,
strikes the ground with her frosty staff,
freezing the tops of hill and mountain.
From her creel drop curious stones
carved with magic, the ancient bones
of her husbands and her many children,
promises of fertile field and glen
when winter’s iron is finally gone.

Kim M. Russell, 15th January 2020

Image result for hag's head cliffs of moher
Hag’s Head, the Cliffs of Moher, image found on Wikipedia

My response to Poets and Storytellers United Weekly Scribblings #2: Myth-placed

Today Rommy makes her debut hosting Weekly Scribblings, with one of her favourite topics – mythology. She asks us to craft our pieces around the idea of a mythological time or place. Her challenge is open to both poetry and prose pieces (fiction or non-fiction), keeping prose 369 words or fewer.

30 thoughts on “Queen of Winter”

  5. The imagery is strong with this one. That sense of bigger than big is what I love about myth, the feeling that anything can happen (and it usually does). And I really love this bit: “carved with magic, the ancient bones”, how the line break makes me think of old and powerful bones full of magic. 😀

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    1. There are so many ancient stones (and bones) in Ireland and Celtic mythology. Because it was once all word of mouth, I think there are many lesser know stories we have yet to discover. When I lived there, nearly forty years ago, I certainly felt the magic.

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    1. The west coast of Ireland is wonderful. The worst winter I’ve ever know was when I lived near Kells in the early eighties; the snow was up to the roof and we had icicles hanging from the ceiling! We had to be dug out.

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  13. Nice reading, Kim. We didn’t know of Cailleach when we visited but we did experience one of her tantrums while it wasn’t even winter. We hit rain so hard we had to turn back. But on our second try a few months later we had a wrongful visit to Cliffs of Moher.
    ..

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  14. Nice reading, Kim. We didn’t know of Cailleach when we visited but we did experience one of her tantrums while it wasn’t even winter. We hit rain so hard we had to turn back. But on our second try a few months later we had a wonderful visit to Cliffs of Moher.
    ..

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