February 2015
I am a poet and an artist. I am also the managing editor of U.S.1 Worksheets, the journal of the U.S.1 Poets' Cooperative in New Jersey. I often write ekphrastic poems about my own work and that of others. I had a long career as a social worker helping homeless families, abused and foster children, and those with mental health issues and/or AIDS. My seventh book of poetry, Running Down Broken Cement (Main Street Rag Publishing Company, 2014) is a testament to all those who struggle daily against the odds. My eighth book, The Owl Prince (retold fairy tales), is coming out in 2015. Please visit my website: www.nancyscott.net
Gretel Lost in the Forest
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Why Every Day has Its Challenges
Bad things are going to happen.
All the rotten turnips will get eaten.
Only the rats will grow fat. Our stepmother
will insist Hansel and I are a headache,
and soon our beloved father will agree.
They will take us into the forest
and leave us to fend for ourselves.
My brother is such a bumbler.
He’ll have a plan, but it won’t work.
Birds will eat all the breadcrumbs.
Poor Hansel, he will just get us lost
deeper and deeper into the forest.
I’ve heard that this place is enchanted,
and sometimes children disappear forever.
Maybe we will chance upon a fairy
godmother who will feed us
strawberries and cream. More likely
we will meet up with a witch
in a gingerbread house and our tale
will take a turn for the worse.
It’s up to me then to get us out of
this predicament.
"Hey, Hansel, wait up!"
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Hansel and Gretel original illustration by Henry Justice Ford 1889
©2015 Nancy Scott