Gavin just announced that this poem will be included in the Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror this year; it originally appeared in the Journal of Mythic Arts.
Tell
by Nathalie Anderson
One sees. One is enticed. One goes
or not. One pines, or not. That’s all
it is. Still, every time one tells,
by hairsbreadth, hairsbreadth, on it grows.
The slant of eye. The cut of tooth.
One thinks what one describes explains.
While spouses sneer and parents strain,
sift sigh from sly, clip rune from brood.
Whatever one might think to say
one says. Despite one’s innocence
strange words serve, stranger, to estrange.
Hearsay. Soothsay. Verité. Fey.
One’s wooden tongue sprouts eloquence.
Oh changeling, this is how you change.
Hey Gwenda –I am glad you like this Nat Anderson poem…it was first published in the Journal of Mythic Arts..and you can find more of Nat’s great poems on the site. Check the poetry index.
http://www.endicott-studio.com/cofhs/index.html
especially under fairy tale poems and myth and folklore poems.
I love her work — it’s gorgeous.