How to burn a woman

By Claire Askew

Claire Askew’s electrifying second collection is an investigation of power: the power of oppressive systems and their hold over those within them; the power of resilience; the power of the human heart. It licks flame across the imagination, and rewrites narratives of human desire. It is a collection for anyone who has ever run through their life ‘backwards/ in the dark,/ with no map’ – these bright poems illuminate the way. How to burn a woman throngs with witches, outsiders, and women who do not fit the ordinary moulds of the world. It is a collection which traces historic atrocities, and celebrates the lives of those accused of witchcraft with empathy, tenderness and rage. It lifts a mirror up to contemporary systems of oppression and, in language that is both vivid and accessible, asks hard questions of our current world. These poems also delve deep into love in all its forms: from infatuations to the bitter ending of relationships. They ask what it is we want, how we might go about getting it, and what its cost might be. How to burn a woman sweeps the world up in its arms and presents it: a rough bonfire of London buses, Salem streets, Edinburgh closes. Askew’s astute, incisive language lifts from every page, throwing sparks.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bloodaxe Books
• Release date: Oct 21, 2021
• ISBN: 9781780375731

Book preview

Cover: How to Burn a Woman by Claire Askew

CLAIRE ASKEW

HOW TO BURN A WOMAN

Claire Askew’s electrifying second collection is an investigation of power: the power of oppressive systems and their hold over those within them; the power of resilience; the power of the human heart. It licks flame across the imagination, and rewrites narratives of human desire. It is a collection for anyone who has ever run through their life ‘backwards/ in the dark, / with no map’ – these bright poems illuminate the way.

How to burn a woman throngs with witches, outsiders, and women who do not fit the ordinary moulds of the world. It is a collection which traces historic atrocities, and celebrates the lives of those accused of witchcraft with empathy, tenderness and rage. It lifts a mirror up to contemporary systems of oppression and, in language that is both vivid and accessible, asks hard questions of our current world.

These poems also delve deep into love in all its forms: from infatuations to the bitter ending of relationships. They ask what it is we want, how we might go about getting it, and what its cost might be. How to burn a woman sweeps the world up in its arms and presents it: a rough bonfire of London buses, Salem streets, Edinburgh closes. Askew’s astute, incisive language lifts from every page, throwing sparks.

‘In this book of spells, Askew stirs together smart, modern poems about whisky, heartbreak and male-female relationships with a darker sequence about our foremothers who were persecuted as witches. How to burn a woman is full of hard-won wisdom and beauty. The vibe is Kim Addonizio joins a coven.’ – Clare Pollard

Cover art by Nick Askew

CLAIRE ASKEW

How to burn

a woman

This book comes with a trigger warning for sexual abuse,

sexual assault, and descriptions of torture.

For those who’ve burned, and those who’ve survived.

CONTENTS

Title Page

Dedication

Domonic

Nessie to the unaccompanied minor

Playing it cool

The flirt

Hand of Glory

Christopher’s rules for skimming stones, which are also rules for living

The women who’ve loved you

A Field Journal of Witches

Travel poem

Devils

The affair

Giles Corey

Thornfield

Knife

May

A spell for the departed

Sarah Good

A spell to honour your foremothers

You can’t always get what you want

Rodney

Motorcycle jacket

The neighbours of Ursula Kemp

Hot rod

Dean

Coming second

Merga Bien

A spell for the rejected

Mothers of sons

Show me again

Eunice Cole

Men

A spell for preparing to sleep alone in an unfamiliar house

Things men want to hear you say

Whisky

Watching the red kite trying to fly

Phone sex

Anne Askew

Men of the rack

Fletcher Mathers

Listening to Rainymood in Waverley Station

A spell for obedience

Janet Horne

Big hands

Library

A spell for the unbelieved

How to burn a woman

Foreplay

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

About the Author

Copyright

Domonic

This time of year I think of you the most:

springtime, when I’m in love with everything.

Behind the bar you liked on Candlemaker Row

the kirkyard laburnums are budding; come

the summer they’ll be yellow Texas hairdos

dropping pods of blossom on the old graves.

I’m amazed that I still observe the days

since you went wherever you went; that

I still want to tell you things. Like:

I look for you in crowds of out-of-towners, and

in spring sometimes there’ll be a