Claire Askew was born in 1986 and grew up in the rural Scottish Borders. She has lived in Edinburgh since 2004, and holds a PhD in Creative Writing & Contemporary Women's Poetry from the University of Edinburgh. Her poems have appeared in numerous publications, including The Guardian, Poetry Scotland, PANK, The Edinburgh Review and Be The First To Like This: New Scottish Poetry (Vagabond Voices, 2014), and have been selected twice for the Scottish Poetry Library's Best Scottish Poems of the Year. In 2013 she won the International Salt Prize for Poetry, and in 2014 was runner-up for the inaugural Edwin Morgan Poetry Award for Scottish poets under 30 for an earlier version of her first book-length collection, This changes things, which was published by Bloodaxe in 2016. She was shortlisted for the Edwin Morgan Poetry Award for a second time in 2016. This changes things was also shortlisted for the Saltire Society First Book of the Year Award 2016, the Seamus Heaney Centre Prize for First Full Collection 2017 and the Michael Murphy Memorial Prize 2017. Claire has been a Scottish Book Trust Reading Champion (2016/7), a Jessie Kesson Fellow (2017) and the Writer in Residence at the University of Edinburgh (2017-2019). Also a novelist, her award-winning Edinburgh-based DI Birch series is published by Hodder & Stoughton. Her second full-length collection, How to burn a woman, is published by Bloodaxe in 2021.

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.

• 9 Domonic13 Nessie to the unaccompanied minor14 Playing it cool15 The flirt16 Hand of Glory18 Christopher’s rules for skimming stones, which are also rules for living20 The women who’ve loved you22 A Field Journal of Witches24 Travel poem27 Devils29 The affair31 Giles Corey32 Thornfield33 Knife35 May37 A spell for the departed38 Sarah Good41 A spell to honour your foremothers43 You can’t always get what you want44 Rodney45 Motorcycle jacket47 The neighbours of Ursula Kemp49 Hot rod50 Dean52 Coming second54 Merga Bien55 A spell for the rejected56 Mothers of sons58 Show me again60 Eunice Cole62 Men64 A spell for preparing to sleep alone in an unfamiliar house66 Things men want to hear you say68 Whisky69 Watching the red kite trying to fly70 Phone sex72 Anne Askew74 Men of the rack76 Fletcher Mathers78 Listening to Rainymood in Waverley Station79 A spell for obedience80 Janet Horne81 Big hands82 Library83 A spell for the unbelieved85 How to burn a woman89 Foreplay93 Acknowledgements

Claire Askew was born in 1986 and grew up in the rural Scottish Borders. She has lived in Edinburgh since 2004, and holds a PhD in Creative Writing & Contemporary Women's Poetry from the University of Edinburgh. Her poems have appeared in numerous publications, including The Guardian, Poetry Scotland, PANK, The Edinburgh Review and Be The First To Like This: New Scottish Poetry (Vagabond Voices, 2014), and have been selected twice for the Scottish Poetry Library's Best Scottish Poems of the Year. In 2013 she won the International Salt Prize for Poetry, and in 2014 was runner-up for the inaugural Edwin Morgan Poetry Award for Scottish poets under 30 for an earlier version of her first book-length collection, This changes things, which was published by Bloodaxe in 2016. She was shortlisted for the Edwin Morgan Poetry Award for a second time in 2016. This changes things was also shortlisted for the Saltire Society First Book of the Year Award 2016, the Seamus Heaney Centre Prize for First Full Collection 2017 and the Michael Murphy Memorial Prize 2017. Claire has been a Scottish Book Trust Reading Champion (2016/7), a Jessie Kesson Fellow (2017) and the Writer in Residence at the University of Edinburgh (2017-2019). Also a novelist, her award-winning Edinburgh-based DI Birch series is published by Hodder & Stoughton. Her second full-length collection, How to burn a woman, is published by Bloodaxe in 2021.

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.

• 9 Domonic13 Nessie to the unaccompanied minor14 Playing it cool15 The flirt16 Hand of Glory18 Christopher’s rules for skimming stones, which are also rules for living20 The women who’ve loved you22 A Field Journal of Witches24 Travel poem27 Devils29 The affair31 Giles Corey32 Thornfield33 Knife35 May37 A spell for the departed38 Sarah Good41 A spell to honour your foremothers43 You can’t always get what you want44 Rodney45 Motorcycle jacket47 The neighbours of Ursula Kemp49 Hot rod50 Dean52 Coming second54 Merga Bien55 A spell for the rejected56 Mothers of sons58 Show me again60 Eunice Cole62 Men64 A spell for preparing to sleep alone in an unfamiliar house66 Things men want to hear you say68 Whisky69 Watching the red kite trying to fly70 Phone sex72 Anne Askew74 Men of the rack76 Fletcher Mathers78 Listening to Rainymood in Waverley Station79 A spell for obedience80 Janet Horne81 Big hands82 Library83 A spell for the unbelieved85 How to burn a woman89 Foreplay93 Acknowledgements

Claire Askew was born in 1986 and grew up in the rural Scottish Borders. She has lived in Edinburgh since 2004, and holds a PhD in Creative Writing & Contemporary Women's Poetry from the University of Edinburgh. Her poems have appeared in numerous publications, including The Guardian, Poetry Scotland, PANK, The Edinburgh Review and Be The First To Like This: New Scottish Poetry (Vagabond Voices, 2014), and have been selected twice for the Scottish Poetry Library's Best Scottish Poems of the Year. In 2013 she won the International Salt Prize for Poetry, and in 2014 was runner-up for the inaugural Edwin Morgan Poetry Award for Scottish poets under 30 for an earlier version of her first book-length collection, This changes things, which was published by Bloodaxe in 2016. She was shortlisted for the Edwin Morgan Poetry Award for a second time in 2016. This changes things was also shortlisted for the Saltire Society First Book of the Year Award 2016, the Seamus Heaney Centre Prize for First Full Collection 2017 and the Michael Murphy Memorial Prize 2017. Claire has been a Scottish Book Trust Reading Champion (2016/7), a Jessie Kesson Fellow (2017) and the Writer in Residence at the University of Edinburgh (2017-2019). Also a novelist, her award-winning Edinburgh-based DI Birch series is published by Hodder & Stoughton. Her second full-length collection, How to burn a woman, is published by Bloodaxe in 2021.

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.

• 9 Domonic13 Nessie to the unaccompanied minor14 Playing it cool15 The flirt16 Hand of Glory18 Christopher’s rules for skimming stones, which are also rules for living20 The women who’ve loved you22 A Field Journal of Witches24 Travel poem27 Devils29 The affair31 Giles Corey32 Thornfield33 Knife35 May37 A spell for the departed38 Sarah Good41 A spell to honour your foremothers43 You can’t always get what you want44 Rodney45 Motorcycle jacket47 The neighbours of Ursula Kemp49 Hot rod50 Dean52 Coming second54 Merga Bien55 A spell for the rejected56 Mothers of sons58 Show me again60 Eunice Cole62 Men64 A spell for preparing to sleep alone in an unfamiliar house66 Things men want to hear you say68 Whisky69 Watching the red kite trying to fly70 Phone sex72 Anne Askew74 Men of the rack76 Fletcher Mathers78 Listening to Rainymood in Waverley Station79 A spell for obedience80 Janet Horne81 Big hands82 Library83 A spell for the unbelieved85 How to burn a woman89 Foreplay93 Acknowledgements