May 2024
Bio Note: I am former elementary school librarian who doesn’t stick to one genre in my reading or my writing. My most recent publications include a bible story, Moses and the Runaway Lamb, and a collection of poems about September 11th in Arlington, Virginia, Smoke at the Pentagon: Poems to Remember. I am currently working on a collection of poems inspired by folk and fairy tales.
Shoes Not Meant for Walking
In the original Grimm Brothers tale,
the evil stepsisters sliced off
their toes and heels in their efforts
to wear Cinderella’s slender shoe.
Of course later versions
sanitized the Grimm story,
highlighting the slipper
and the precious petite foot
needed for a happy ending.
What came first?
The story of a girl
who snagged a prince
because her foot fit
inside a tiny shoe?
Or centuries of Chinese women
who broke and bound their feet
for an aura of elite beauty?
No one wants to dwell
on the way women have always
hidden their pain to wear shoes
not fit to walk.
But I’m inclined to wince,
feeling my own soles ache,
each time I see a sister
in stiletto heels.
Breadcrumbs
Ever since Hansel left a trail
in the woods, breadcrumbs
are so much more than
stale pieces of dry toast.
Criminals leave breadcrumbs
detectives use to track them down.
Web designers use breadcrumbs
to help us navigate the internet.
I’ve even seen the noun changed to a verb:
“breadcrumbing.”
Somehow, the world doesn’t care
that the birds ate the crumbs in the fairy tale;
that the tactic was a flop, leaving
Hansel and Gretel lost in the woods.
Maybe it’s not what really happens in the story,
but the memorable image that matters.
And the times I’ve failed
to make my way back home
will not define my legacy.
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