Mother's Stories

I warned you about Mother telling her stories.
I warned you,
but you wouldn’t listen.

I warned you about the magic
of golem and djinn,
about lilac walks 
and mysterious circuses.
Stranded mice,
abandoned mice,
runaway mice,
unexceptional princesses,
all fodder for the worst sort of daydreaming.
I warned you,
but you wouldn’t listen.

Sisters telling stories in bird language
as they browse bookstores in Paris
and tapestries of tales 
told by women who are unicorns
invite all sorts of imaginings,
nothing practical,
all frivolous flights of fancy.
I warned you,
but you wouldn’t listen.

Leave Avalon to lie in the mist,
allow the city of chains
to fall into the abyss,
let wolf-women run 
through Rome’s seven hills alone.
Close your ears to Mother’s stories,
cover your eyes so you aren’t ensnared 
by the magic of gesture. 
Let the story end,
leave the queen encased in crystal
and the flower-maiden weeping
in underground halls;
don’t send the children out
to peek under toadstool and 
fern forests for wee wicked folk.
I warned you,
but you wouldn’t listen.

Tell them no,
you’ll not hear the hoofbeats
as the horseman stalks the village,
rabbits don’t wear watches,
mermaids don’t dance,
fillies don’t fly.
Tell the children no,
abandoned princesses don’t wear crowns of stars,
maids don’t marry monsters
in return for a single rose,
they don’t marry the north wind,
they don’t spin dynasties
on outlawed spinning wheels.
I warned you,
but you wouldn’t listen.

See what comes of Mother’s stories:
the children run wild through the wood 
seeking musical menageries,
they wade into seaside caves
singing for selkies.
They ask for tales told 
by orphaned princesses 
hiding in palace gardens
and songs sung by shieldmaidens.
They want stories 
of women made of glass
and sagas sung by lionesses,
princesses who save miners’ sons 
and princesses who save themselves.
I warned you,
but you wouldn’t listen.

No good will come of Mother’s stories,
I said,
and now all is topsy-turvy
and the children have run off
to the goblin market.

Copyright © Nicole Perkins | Year Posted 2023

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