wondered Rapunzel
with hair falling down like
broken anemones and white capped waves
She'd heard the babbling brook, dipped a toe
in the silent witches' pool
But of course that was long ago and
salt water was foreign to her and
she didn't know what mermaids were
When her hands showed lacing blue veins and crackling skin
she knew no prince would come
who ever would've thought, no prince!
And so she hoped the flood would come instead, rise to her window
pour inside, pour inside
her
running in rivulets then an inch on the floor
She imagined slogging through it, dragging her dress
while it rose to her knees
to her thighs
past her waist (remember when her hair only hung to her waist?)
encircling her neck
And bringing all sorts of fish and sea monsters with teeth like pearls
So each day, she scratched her chest, just above
those sunken breasts
hoping to carve gills out of her skin
hoping to swim away with a sea monster so fierce it
could devour any prince that came along
She would ride the flood, ride it free,
and there were no towers beneath the sea that couldn't be swum out of
-- but this morning, the air didn't smell like salt, or even a possible storm
not yet
And she looked out the window and scratched at her chest
with old yellow nails that only a sea monster could love
*
...and then she wrote some bad poetry about an old Rapunzel.
Word to the wise: the search term "old woman" on DA brings up an astounding amount of Wonder Woman art. And a lot of it is really, really disturbing. Things I cannot un-see. Though I desperately wish to un-see them.
Also, I have a kitten! Why did the link go on the word "Also"! I do not know! Why are you not clicking to see my adorable little guy!
That is all.
Maybe it's my anti-Disney streak (or my wannabe anti-Disney streak... I don't have enough time it seems to get really angry about anything except gas prices these days...) but since "Tangled" came out, I have been enthralled with the Rapunzel story. I wrote "Rapunzel vs. the Undead" for an anthology (Father Grim's Storybook) and I started another Rapunzel tale from one of the other characters' POV... It's the allure of the classic tales, I think.
ReplyDeleteAnd I really, really like what you've done with it.
BTW - adorable kitty.
Did you see Tangled? I haven't actually watched it, and I love Disney. No, wait. I HATE Disney and what it teaches little girls. And children in general about the world. Wait. No! I love Disney! It's clean and safe.
ReplyDeleteI seriously do have a love/hate relationship with Disney. As long as it never takes over the world, we're good.
Now, anything with the undead connected to anything Disney seems cool, although it could be said that Rapunzel originally belonged to the Grimm brothers (I think). Still, good stuff.
I hear you. My boys love Tangled, so I've seen it a few times, but my "Rapunzels" are rooted safely with the Grimm bros. The "undead" version reads very close to the classic version, if given the "Pride & Prejudice & Zombies" treatment. The new one that I felt like writing is all new.
ReplyDeleteSo yeah - yay/boo Disney/Disneyfication
You create beautiful images with this.
ReplyDeleteI haven´t seen "Tangled", but I think I can safely say I prefer the original Rapunzel (if there is such a creature!) and yours works very well with the old fairy tale -- those happy endings, I suspect they were glued on long after the original stories were told =)
Love the kitty =)