"Witched" by Beth Konkoski

3/30/2022

Beth Konkoski is a writer and high school English teacher living in Northern Virginia with her husband and almost-grown kids. Her work has appeared in journals such as Mid-American Review, The American Journal of Poetry, and Gargoyle. She has two poetry chapbooks: “Noticing the Splash” with BoneWorld Press and “Water Shedding” with Finishing Line Press. She is currently at work on a novel.

Olivia Heitz is a recent American University graduate who details stories of love and death. With a degree in Business Administration and Creative Writing, Olivia specializes in digital marketing, cross-team project management, and creative writing across genres. Her work can be found on WVAU and Spoon University, as well as on her personal website at www.oliviagheitz.wordpress.com and on social media @oliviagheitz.

Introduction to "Witched"
Olivia Heitz

My first interaction with Beth Konkoski’s writing was a piece of poetry assigned to me in an introductory writing class as a freshman. The poem in question, Free Range Animal (Crackers), found in The American Journal of Poetry, captured my attention with its biting wit and cynicism, things I had rarely seen in poetry before or dared to explore in my own writing. That unexpected twist is her signature, found throughout her writing regardless of form. Her writing is fitted with humor to break up the darker tones and themes much of her writing takes on. She draws on her and builds on her experiences as a woman, a teacher, a mother, and a writer to create works that celebrate women in a variety of shades. Her work appears in a variety of places, including Gargoyle, Mid-American Review, Worksprogress, and she has two poetry chapbooks that focus on femininity and motherhood.

Built on the reminiscence of family, comfort, and sanctuary, "Witched" describes the journey of healing and growth for a woman on the run and brings to life a world of subtle magic and feminine protection. It follows Tess, a woman hiding from her husband as she finds refuge in her sister’s home, a small farm built from labor and love. She helps tend the garden and works the land with her sister and nephews to support and feed the family as she regains her strength and confidence. The piece culminates in an emotional moment for both women as they work together to save each other.

The artistry behind the journey was born out of the feeling of comfort Konkoski found in her sister’s home and family, the healing properties of being reconnected to the earth, and the redeeming feeling of being reunited with your roots after being away. She’s lived and worked across the United States, including Hawaii, California, New York, and presently D.C., and it’s this journey that has helped her tap into the longing and relief her characters experience. The magical realism is prevalent in many of her pieces, adding a twist to the realistic and relatable characteristics many of her characters take on. In "Witched," Aggie’s care is elevated by her natural remedies, herbs and food, and pieces of the world around her that she brings into her home to protect, clean, and heal, as well as the mystical properties of the land they live on.

The importance of food in Tess’s recovery is both clear and emotionally charged. She discovers its healing properties and its ability to reconnect her to her roots both physically and metaphorically by witnessing the care with which Aggie, Tess’s sister, raises her children and cares for her home and land. The warm descriptions of the garden and the kitchen and the cozy nature of the house itself build the feminine sanctuary needed for her to grow strong once again. The description of Aggie’s meals, vegetable stew, frittatas, and the host of veggies they raise and harvest from the land together, emphasizes the necessary balance of work and rest so hard to find in day-to-day life. These foods are painted with such care

As I read the piece, I understood the healing she wrote of in my own life: the small jar of lavender and chamomile I keep beside my bed, the obsidian and amethyst sitting in my windowsill, the home-cooked meals I make on the rare nights I take off. The healing powers of going to a sister when you feel lost. Konkoski writes, “This daily love affair with the ground on which she walked, her morning meditations and evening Wiccan prayers, spoke to me of a hope I knew had never been in my life.” Much like Tess and Aggie, my sister is a light for me, guiding and teaching, healing me in her own ways, just as I support her in mine. The sanctity of sisterhood is present throughout the piece. Sisters healing each other, protecting each other, and providing a home when in need is relevant even outside the piece. In a publication of stories on womanhood, there is no better place for "Witched" than Furious Gravity.

Published in the wake of a global pandemic, Furious Gravity brought together a collection of pieces about anger, grief, family, and growth by D.C. women writers. These pieces highlight the emotional waves brought about by a world experiencing radical changes. Beth Konkoski’s "Witched" fits perfectly among these, with its beautiful characters and its capitalization on the real, current problems women face. Both Tess and Aggie serve as mirrors for the reader, opportunities to see ourselves in a position of strength and weakness, of healing ourselves and others. It’s this mirror that helps raise "Witched," in its delicate descriptions and succinct conversations, beyond a story of a woman finding protection and herself in her sister to a story of comfort and healing much needed in these difficult times.