Gretel knows about stones
Stones may lead you safe home
But they cannot make home safe
You cannot squeeze blood from stones
They have nothing to give
I know about nothing
Gretel knows about crumbs
Crumbs will not lead you home at all
Not if the birds get them first
Even kept in your pocket and nibbled slowly
Crumbs are not enough
I know about not enough
And when you do not have enough
When you do not even have any
When you are afraid in the wood
You will not recognize the difference between
some
and too much
It is all the same to you
It was all the same to me
Gretel knows about hunger
About being so hollow you will take any scraps you can get
Even if they are rotten
Even if they are poison
Because you cannot say no
If you want to live
I wanted to live
I did not know the difference between
Some and too much
Any or a surfeit
It was all the same to me
Gretel knows about gingerbread
You can make gingerbread into a house
But it will never be a home
It may give you a full belly, sticky lips and fingers
Until you are stuffed and trapped and sick
Until it is too much
I did not know how to tell
When I had had too much
Safety or danger?
I could not tell the difference
Between dying and
the things I did
to save my life
Between a fire for warmth
and a fire for baking
and a fire for
the thing I did
Gretel knows about turnips
Like stones, you cannot get blood from them
But unlike stones, you can eat turnips
Boiled in a soup, roasted with oil and pepper, even raw
I know the difference now
I line my garden beds with stones
And eat the turnips that grow between them
When I have breadcrumbs I sprinkle them for the birds
I do not need to save them up
I know where to find wild strawberries in the wood
When they are ripe I eat them with cream
When they are rotten I leave them alone
I can tell the difference now
I tend my garden
Greens, potatoes, carrots, peas
Mint, garlic, rosemary, sage
I tend my chickens, cow, and bees
They give me
Eggs, milk, and honey
I know what I'm hungry for
And eat what I like
Potatoes fried with onions and butter
Wild greens and herbs and mushrooms
Thick brown toast with blackberry jam
But never gingerbread
There are some things I have had enough of
Enough to last a lifetime
Lissa Sloan is the author of Glass and Feathers, a dark continuation of the traditional Cinderella tale. Her fairy tale poems and short stories appear in The Fairy Tale Magazine, Niteblade Magazine, Corvid Queen, and anthologies from World Weaver Press. She is also a contributing writer at FTM.Visit Lissa online at lissasloan.com, or on social media.
Image by Arthur Rackham: “The Lady Enters the Forest.”
Love this one, Lissa!