Fairytale by Jessica Maggie Brophy
I.
Once upon a time there was a poet
who didn’t trust her imagination.
She relied upon her family stories
or her daily whims.
She could not just
make up a story out of her brain;
She didn’t trust her body to speak—
disconnected to stones, the sun, the sea.
II.
So she decided to watch her mother
whose body inflamed when she was angry.
Mother would invent new ways to keep the flock
in her crow shadow.
Sometimes this meant the poet
cleaned the attic all summer;
sometimes this meant mother disapproved
of all her sisters’ suitors.
III.
The poet who didn’t trust her imagination grew up and
began to notice father.
She watched as he punched numbers and
saw his fingers work harder and his eyes grow duller.
She saw his legs move like the legs of
a steam engine,
not knowing if he was
dancing or being drugged.
She wondered if he ever worked off the clock and
if he forgot the taste of salmon.
She remembered a far away stare
when he was at the wheel.
IV.
Eventually the girl found a boy whose
face fired bright with life.
He had biceps for days and
could make chicken stew with palm oil.
He knew many languages and could manipulate
his voice to channel joy.
His body zig-zagged red
across the midfield;
if he kept moving,
eventually everything would make sense.
V.
One day, after a match had finished,
the girl and the boy decided to get married.
They sat on the sidelines, the girl
prodding the engagement.
They got married in the court and
had lunch in an aviary.
The bruise of her parent’s divorce
holds the same anniversary year;
Mostly his in-laws watched and
ate Indian buffet.
VI.
Thirteen years after they met, the poet
gave birth to their son (Goddess Protect, Wisdom Soothe Our Tears).
Wind moving through grass possesses his spirit.
He crawls towards lawn weeds growing high.
The play of light in the shape of nepthytis
prods him to say a first word—shadow.
He doesn’t carry the bruises of his parents—
he still trusts his mother and father.
VII.
Nine months after childbirth, poet can
can almost feel her body again.