Not long ago
At a dark and remote
Bus stop
An old woman sat
Next to me and told me of her one
Fairytale romance
She spoke of moonlit nights with blinding stars
An enchanted dance
Love poems that
Compared her face to the sun
“I felt just like a princess”
She said when her white knight
Rode into town in a
U-Haul, to save her from the
Dungeon in her parent’s castle
She was sick of all the hassle
Slaving away
Day after day
For her nasty mother and
Vile sisters
I was only half paying attention
Looking mostly in the other direction, and
Waiting for the end when she would say
Something about living happily...
Instead things took a grim turn
Deep in the night
No witness
But the empty new moon
He forced her wrists
Behind her back and bit into her
Apple breasts
Filling her with
Slow acting poisons and
Stealing her power and faith
She drove a hairpin into his
Arm somewhere On the103 between
Chester and Mahone Bay
“He’d have died if I’d had it my way”
He left her there on the side of the road
No choice but to hitchhike home
And work her fingers to the bone
Forever weary of the wolves who
Hunger for sweet flesh
I froze when she
Kissed my mouth
Ran her wrinkled hands
Through my hair
And walked out into the darkness
Her side-bent thumb stretched
Out to catch the last ride of the night
