{"id":57927,"date":"2026-01-19T07:42:57","date_gmt":"2026-01-19T12:42:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/strangehorizons.com\/wordpress\/?p=57927"},"modified":"2026-01-19T16:44:25","modified_gmt":"2026-01-19T21:44:25","slug":"priestess-iv","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/strangehorizons.com\/wordpress\/poetry\/priestess-iv\/","title":{"rendered":"Priestess IV"},"content":{"rendered":"<script>\nfunction showWarning_enUS() {\n    var content_warning_list = document.getElementById(\"content-warning-enUS\");\n\n    if (content_warning_list.style.display === \"none\") {\n        content_warning_list.style.display = \"block\";\n    } else {\n        content_warning_list.style.display = \"none\";\n    }\n}\n<\/script><div lang=\"en-US\" dir=\"ltr\" class=\"content-warning-container-ltr\"><p><strong class=\"content-warning-title\">Content warning:<\/strong><br\/><button onclick=\"showWarning_enUS()\">Show warnings<\/button><\/p><div class=\"content-warning\" id=\"content-warning-enUS\" style=\"display: none;\" ><p>This page contains: <\/p><ul><li>Drug use<\/li><\/ul><\/div><br\/><\/div>\n<p>She is not the one sitting over at the pit<br \/>\nwhere the exhalations of Earth\u2019s conflagrations rise<br \/>\nomit what kind of Trance<br \/>\ntakes her mind on another plane to dance<\/p>\n<p>She is not the one on the tri-legged stool<br \/>\nbalancing her bottom before worshipping fools<br \/>\nthat\u2019s not her Hustle, that\u2019s not her story<br \/>\nthat\u2019s not her desire, to be worshipped<br \/>\nshe does not seek Glory<\/p>\n<p>What Oracle she may be comes from knowing<br \/>\nwhere the grain was cast, the roof raised,<br \/>\nthe Harvest threshed, the rent party held,<br \/>\nshe casts salt before the threshold<br \/>\nand stayed after to sage the joint<\/p>\n<p>She smokes clove cigarettes mixed with unknowables<\/p>\n<p>the black fairy in the village sold her a dime for a nickel<br \/>\nsmiling beatifically in recognition of kindred sistership<br \/>\no sweet tiny glory<span style=\"margin-left: 28px\">this<\/span> is what she leads us to<br \/>\nthis is what she ushers in<\/p>\n<p>What was lost, what was saved<br \/>\nwhat is planted above the grave<br \/>\nhow the hearth in the home was made<br \/>\nadd who gathers its fuel, peat or log,<br \/>\ntwig or branch, child, parents, fool\u2014<\/p>\n<p>She is their Priestess and honored<br \/>\nwith gifts, a special bit of this<br \/>\nfirst oil pressed, fermented fruit, early juice,<br \/>\nand that, late harvest wine, herbed vinegars<br \/>\nbreads, the jangle of the smith\u2019s hammerings<br \/>\nfierce forged, spare fire<\/p>\n<p>She is of them <span style=\"margin-left: 80px\">\u2003\u2002she<\/span> can guide them<br \/>\nbecause she knows them <span style=\"margin-left: 28px\">she<\/span> can guide them<br \/>\nbecause she knows<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<br \/>\n&nbsp;<br \/>\n&nbsp;<br \/>\n<i>[Editor\u2019s Note: The publication of this poem was made possible by a donation from D Franklin during our annual Kickstarter.]<\/i><\/p>\n<br class=\"clear_both\"\/>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>the black fairy in the village sold her a dime for a nickel<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":88,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[730],"class_list":["post-57927","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poetry","tag-no-content-warning"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p82q22-f4j","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/strangehorizons.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57927","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/strangehorizons.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/strangehorizons.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/strangehorizons.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/88"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/strangehorizons.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57927"}],"version-history":[{"count":28,"href":"https:\/\/strangehorizons.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57927\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57949,"href":"https:\/\/strangehorizons.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57927\/revisions\/57949"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/strangehorizons.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57927"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/strangehorizons.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57927"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/strangehorizons.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57927"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}