She Needs

by Sara Cleto and Brittany Warman

Sister, I am sending you a girl,
The one who should have had
The bear-prince.
She has long dark hair, a wistful smile –
I have given her a golden apple
To nourish her spirit,
But she needs
Outrage.

PS – If you no longer have need of them, please return, by cat, the seven league boots I lent you last autumn.

*     *     *     *     *

Sister, I am sending you a heart,
Bruised but unbroken, in the chest of
A girl who has chosen to follow it.
I have given her a golden carding comb
To help her sort truth from lies,
Illusions from reality,
But she needs
Ingenuity.

PS – Could you, by chance, return our sister’s boots to me? If I remember correctly, you borrowed them last Spring for that incident with the two giants.  

*     *     *     *     *

Winds, I am sending you an enchantment
Near finished, one that must
Now be whispered through leaves.
I have given the girl a golden spinning wheel,
To spin riddles, mischief,
her own story,
But she needs
A journey.

PS – I seem to have misplaced a pair of magical boots – could you keep a look out for them? I imagine they’re being used by some miller’s son somewhere.

*

Dr. Sara Cleto and Dr. Brittany Warman are award-winning folklorists, teachers, and writers. Together, they founded The Carterhaugh School of Folklore and the Fantastic, teaching creative souls how to re-enchant their lives through folklore and fairy tales. Their fiction and poetry can be found in Enchanted Living, Uncanny Magazine, Apex Magazine, Liminality, Star*Line, and others.