Introduction to Issue 30 • Witches

I met a witch with amber eyes
Who slowly sang a scarlet rune,
Shifting to an icy laughter
Like the laughter of the moon.
                    —Clark Ashton Smith

A witch is defined as someone who is said to possess usually malignant supernatural powers. The folklore of witches, however, is spread far and wide over many cultures and through the centuries, the definition has changed. A witch could be a simple cunning woman or healer to seers and oracles as well. I’ve left the definition of a witch broad in order for imaginations to be tapped without limit, as long as there wasn’t an allusion to another title. May these poems enchant and spellbind you as they have done to me.