Just recently I learned that the writerly term for this is work in progress, WIP. My WIP recounts the adventures, tragic and comic, of three fairytale heroines. As a writer I’m slow, a tiny caterpillar chewing on a large leaf. I love my little book and hope to finish it someday! It’s a joy to retell old tales and make them our own.
From watch-posts, pedestals, columns,
they leapt to life – claws out,
jaws wide – their roars not imagined
by those dreaming in safety.
Their strength pursued vagrants, who too
were prowling – worse than any lion –
bearing the image of the Eternal
yet roaming the night to thieve and maul.
One old guardian, full-maned but thin,
awoke still half stone, claws clutching
shining spheres of marble
to menace and wield. At times
the night, under the Italian skies,
and the dim streets, were massed
with legions of lions seeking vengeance
for the corruption of their City.
Out of love, they gave real lions –
let loose from the Duke’s gardens –
wide berth, making them think they were
simply their own magnificent shadows.
In fairytales we find
things quaint, sweet,
and unexpected.
In fairytales we find
things profound
or horrible.
Wheelbarrows full
of toads and gems,
castles and ogres,
lions and hares,
fog, starlight, ships,
enchanted islands,
a forest not yet
nicked by an axe
a spyglass,
tower,
and rope made from
Rapunzel’s
yellow hair.
“There is a special term to describe literary depictions of visual works of art: ekphrasis. Poems about pictures or paintings are, then, ekphrastic poems.” Dr. Oliver Teale, 10 of the Best Ekphrastic Poems about Pictures
Frederick Hall – Cinderella
Cinderella is one of my favorite fairytales. I’m writing a novella in which she appears.
Looking Glum
Cinder-girl, are you feeling sad?
Let me be your Fairy Godmother
offering advice you haven’t asked for!
Isn’t it better sitting barefoot
in a sunny barnyard filled with
the flitting, scratching, and pecking of
innocent fowl and
fallout of downy feathers
than sitting inside a wealthy house –
too large for its occupants –
littered with the fallout of wicked tongues?
One day – though now you can’t see –
you will wear, lose, and recover a slipper
of unmatched beauty.
Till then,
I recommend,
cheer up!
Faith and Imagination ~ Maria Ott Tatham 