if a sad riddle is solved
regaling not, the rose rhapsodies
should the princess learn to smile again
or the would be prince cum bumpkin
be at least festive he did not perish
through finding it unsolvable
is it really all relative to the outcome
because the riddle even solved
is still tragic even if you solve how it
happened minus the seven swans and the pear
tree and who is no longer with us like a 13th
fairy
at the dining room table when we use the
pink linen tablecloth and napkins
and the cut crystal dish for the cranberry
sauce, the parfait trifle or
she is just rifling through antique magazines
for the fairy stories sniffed the neighbors;
the households strung with fairy lights
keeping the moon up at night
the worthless differences and shades of how
she got lost in the maze
we always knew she would
once science killed off all the fairies
and the fairy rings faded colour by colour
and blossom by blossom
decolonizing the bees
so that truly in the world
nothing flowered anymore or sneezed
(and dream zeppelins went down in flames)
at least, not according to activist poets
and no bird sang
just because it wanted to.
mary angela douglas 4 november 2022
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