But Mother I Craved Her

A Tortured Poet’s Regret — No6

Photo by Matthew Moloney on Unsplash

fairy tales
always have a way
of unwinding
in the grimmest ends.

cinderella’s stepsisters
cut their toes
just to try and trick a prince
into believing the slipper fit them.

the wolf ate up
little red and her grandmother
until a huntsman came
and cut them free from the wolf’s belly.

and the mermaid, oh,
she would not kill her prince —
so instead she watched
as he married another in her stead.

fairy tales,
you see,
have always been
odes to caution above all.

the silver lining
is not always there,
and true love
is not always possible.

oh, disney can try and sell you
the manufactured song for the masses —
but the truth is that fairy tales
have a bloody history indeed.