at the Salem Witch museum
a motorized black doll sat in
a police cell
and i thought to
myself there is no such
thing
as a pretend prison
even when i left the museum
i remained in its grasp the
witches were long dead but i
could not shake Tituba
what of her,
her disputed blackness
her indisputable slavery
her cursed sharing
her transatlantic trials
walking through Salem
in the night
i knew myself to be
so easily tried
so swiftly hung
i walked with a group
and walked alone
there were no homes
that would welcome me
no front lawn
i should mistake for solid ground
no white fence
that could not
stake me
——————
Jordan Taliha McDonald is a writer, editor, cultural worker, and student from the D.C. area. Her essays, criticism, fiction, and poetry have been published in Huffington Post, Artsy, Bitch Media, The Offing, Africa is a Country, Hayden’s Ferry Review, Meetinghouse Magazine, and more. In 2021, she was awarded the Academy of American Poets Prize at Dartmouth College.