tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-87122123242344772652024-03-14T10:54:41.289+00:00estillpollockpoetryArchives and links for the work of poet Estill Pollockestillpollockpoetryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10088164671926143530noreply@blogger.comBlogger291125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8712212324234477265.post-85142358783254539972024-02-22T12:35:00.038+00:002024-02-24T09:53:12.934+00:00Ark - a New Review<p><br /></p><p><b><i><span style="color: white;">Ark</span></i></b></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="c9dxtc" style="color: white;"><b>Estill Pollock <o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="color: white; font-variant-ligatures: none;">Broadstone Books</span></p><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: white; font-variant-ligatures: none;">
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="c9dxtc">418 Ann Street<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="c9dxtc">Frankfort, KY <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="c9dxtc">40601-1929<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="c9dxtc">USA <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing">BroadstoneBooks.com</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing">ISBN 978-1-956782-43-1</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="c9dxtc">A5 <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="c9dxtc">84 pages <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="text-align: justify;">From the prolific Estill Pollock this is told in 3
parts, </span><i style="text-align: justify;">Weather, Waves </i><span style="text-align: justify;">and </span><i style="text-align: justify;">Sanctuary. </i><span style="text-align: justify;">The
personal is here, but here more as a lens on this disintegrating world. All is
detailed, the day's weather first, then the technological climate, digital
downloads and hedge funds, juxtaposition of the traditional alongside and mixed
in with news headlines.</span></p></span><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-variant-ligatures: none;"><span style="color: white;">
</span><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-right: 82.75pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: white;">Estill Pollock is master of the telling image. This for
instance, and taken at random – 'A sweat-stain river – sediments banded /
AstroTurf green, shrill-yellow tetrazine, spills / into the choke of gravel
above the village...' Note that 'choke'. Perfect.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-right: 82.75pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: white;"><o:p><span> </span></o:p>Nor does he confine his telling to one place, one
time, one planet. Prolific Estill may be, but he has a lot to say. And he says
it so well. 'The world is frail, each breath the last / Until we wake in older
light, in the counterfeit of days our / lasting memory fire – the fall from
grace...' (“<span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Spirit Animals”).</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-right: 82.75pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: white;">In the <i>Waves </i>section he moves from a
poem a page to 4 line stanzas, those stanzas 5 to a page of the 10 pages in a
concise, and cynical, description of old London.</span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-right: 82.75pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-right: 82.75pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: white;">A dirty, lawless</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="color: white;"><span class="c9dxtc">Time, windows stuffed with
rags, poles</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="color: white;"><span class="c9dxtc">Jammed in casement cracks</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="color: white;"><span class="c9dxtc">Hung with dank clothes, a
sluggish</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="color: white;"><span class="c9dxtc">rain, children with
stick-horses...</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="color: white;"><span class="c9dxtc">…</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="color: white;">Coal smoke, yellow fog</span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="color: white;"><span class="c9dxtc">Sinuous through a sickly</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="color: white;"><span class="c9dxtc">City, the wealthy</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="color: white;"><span class="c9dxtc">Fled to their estates, the
poor</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="c9dxtc"><span style="color: white;">Begging pennies for their
graves...<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="c9dxtc"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="color: white;">The
second long poem in <i>Waves </i>– “How We Heard the News,” is in the same
format and seems to tell of the 20<sup>th</sup> century, how the rising
sea levels began.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-right: 82.75pt;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="text-align: justify;">In the </span><i style="text-align: justify;">Sanctuary </i><span style="text-align: justify;">section
we go back to mostly a poem-a-page, with this sanctuary being less of an Eden
and more of an ‘I-told-you-so, here is what we did.’ </span><i style="text-align: justify;">Sanctuary </i><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic; text-align: justify;">also </span><span style="text-align: justify;">includes a 7-page history of
American slavery. “</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic; text-align: justify;">The Time,”<i> </i>though, </span><span style="text-align: justify;">I
think typifies the many strands of this large collection.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-right: 82.75pt;"><span style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="color: white;">The time is past for all
that, last words</span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="color: white;"><span class="c9dxtc">Hanging like thieves at
Tyburn, Sam Pepys leaning</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="color: white;"><span class="c9dxtc">From a window, noting the
weather</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="color: white;"><span class="c9dxtc">And the crowd</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="color: white;">Time is past knowing, a
code</span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="color: white;"><span class="c9dxtc">Of subsequent revelation,
the diaries</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="color: white;"><span class="c9dxtc">Of the dead simply days
bleeding out to moments</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="color: white;"><span class="c9dxtc">We all rehearse, shy
before mirrors</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="color: white;"><span class="c9dxtc">In quiet rooms</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><o:p><span style="color: white;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="color: white;"><span class="c9dxtc">All that is known of time,
tripwire</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="color: white;"><span class="c9dxtc">Escapements or quantum
eagles in the sun, redeems</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="color: white;"><span class="c9dxtc">Each ticking atom with the
winding</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="color: white;"><span class="c9dxtc">Of the key</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="color: white;"><br />
<span class="c9dxtc">Breath rallies, then eases - ruse of memory</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="color: white;"><span class="c9dxtc">And a queasy incoherence,
the way priests make signs</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="c9dxtc"><span style="color: white;">To kickstart ghosts<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="c9dxtc"><o:p><span style="color: white;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="color: white;"><o:p> </o:p>...Time to get yourselves
along to Blackwell's, Oxford....</span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="c9dxtc"><o:p><span style="color: white;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="color: white;"><span class="c9dxtc"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="text-align: justify;">‒</span><span style="text-align: justify;">Sam Smith, <i>The
Journal </i>(formally, </span><em style="text-align: justify;"><span face="Calibri, "sans-serif"">Journal of Contemporary Anglo-Scandinavian Poetry)</span></em></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><o:p><span style="color: white;"> </span></o:p></p><br /><p></p></span>estillpollockpoetryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10088164671926143530noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8712212324234477265.post-4866710588626593452024-02-02T11:21:00.000+00:002024-02-02T11:21:47.953+00:00New Poetry: "The High Ground"<p>We are pleased to offer Estill Pollock's long poem, "The High Ground," as published by <i>The High Window. </i></p><p>The poem is included in Pollock's forthcoming collection, <i>Heathen Anthems,</i> scheduled for publication autumn 2024 by Broadstone Books.</p><p>Please note the 'Aral Sea' image is offered by <i>The High Window,</i> whose editors take sole responsibilityfor copyright clearances.</p><p><a href="https://thehighwindowpress.com/2024/02/02/estill-pollock-the-high-ground/" target="_blank">The High Ground</a><br /></p><p><i><br /></i></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>estillpollockpoetryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10088164671926143530noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8712212324234477265.post-40205708580709800782024-01-16T15:51:00.000+00:002024-01-16T15:51:12.523+00:00The Drunken Boat - a New Translation<p> We are pleased to share <i>The High Window's </i>recent post of Estill Pollock's translation of Arthur Rimbaud's "<i>LeBateau Ivre." </i></p><p><a href="https://thehighwindowpress.com/2024/01/16/rimbaud-le-bateau-ivre-translated-by-estill-pollock/" target="_blank">The Drunken Boat</a><br /></p>estillpollockpoetryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10088164671926143530noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8712212324234477265.post-29894719484703664592024-01-03T07:04:00.000+00:002024-01-03T07:04:25.732+00:00NEW: Frames of Reference<p>Estill Pollock's new long poem, "Frames of Reference," is now published by <i>Mudlark </i>as part of their 'Flash' series of standalone publications (No.172). To view the poem, follow the link below.</p><p><a href="https://mudlark.domains.unf.edu/flashes/estill_pollock.html" target="_blank">Frames of Reference</a></p>estillpollockpoetryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10088164671926143530noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8712212324234477265.post-87729778888687219522023-07-03T07:27:00.007+01:002023-09-27T07:49:39.091+01:00Ark - New Poetry <p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuE6TQeBRjiZ2bnhH2A3PkSvqAO-kMnpDetn_0HzXBvtNhcCnkGTmdrAXFLDw-z8o_RMx2aXl099D9PmSLGo2S9IzNqu3QuMWDZyoVMDaTSPGZmeRKi_sc1BQpH05lKeoB0X3NhuMNcWJSFOMDDyiMVvKX_-CZ-92-F2aLiaZRfyM2CtQ1KeKAOEeafQ/s2775/Ark%20Front%20Cover%20(1%20of%201).jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2775" data-original-width="1833" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuE6TQeBRjiZ2bnhH2A3PkSvqAO-kMnpDetn_0HzXBvtNhcCnkGTmdrAXFLDw-z8o_RMx2aXl099D9PmSLGo2S9IzNqu3QuMWDZyoVMDaTSPGZmeRKi_sc1BQpH05lKeoB0X3NhuMNcWJSFOMDDyiMVvKX_-CZ-92-F2aLiaZRfyM2CtQ1KeKAOEeafQ/s320/Ark%20Front%20Cover%20(1%20of%201).jpg" width="211" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 99.45pt; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 99.45pt 0cm 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";">Estill Pollock's latest poetry collection, <i>Ark, </i>is now available from Broadstone Books. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";">The book can be purchased online through major outlets and at a discounted price direct from the publisher's website.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 99.45pt; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 99.45pt 0cm 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 99.45pt; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 99.45pt 0cm 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";">The collection is available in the UK through Blackwell's (Oxford) online catalogue.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 99.45pt; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 99.45pt 0cm 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 99.45pt; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 99.45pt 0cm 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: medium;">We are pleased to include here a recent review of the collection by author Timothy Dodd. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 99.45pt; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 99.45pt 0cm 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 99.45pt; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 99.45pt 0cm 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://www.broadstonebooks.com/shop/p/ark-poetry-by-estill-pollock">https://www.broadstonebooks.com/shop/p/ark-poetry-by-estill-pollock</a><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 99.45pt; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 99.45pt 0cm 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 99.45pt; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 99.45pt 0cm 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";"><i><span style="font-size: medium;">Ark </span></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 99.45pt; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 99.45pt 0cm 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";"><span style="font-size: medium;">Estill Pollock</span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-right: 99.45pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">ISBN
978-1-956782-43-1</span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-right: 99.45pt; text-align: justify;"><span class="fontstyle01"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: medium;">Softbound, 83pp</span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-right: 99.45pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">$26.00 RRP/$19.50 (publisher) </span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-right: 99.45pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Broadstone Books </span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-right: 99.45pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Broadstone Media LLC </span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-right: 99.45pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">418 Ann Street</span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-right: 99.45pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: medium; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; padding: 0cm;">Frankfort, KY 40601-1929<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-right: 99.45pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: medium; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; padding: 0cm;">USA<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-right: 99.45pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: medium; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; padding: 0cm;">BroadstoneBooks.com</span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-right: 99.45pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>[NB. </span><i>Ark
</i><span>will be available in the UK through Blackwell’s (Oxford) online catalogue.]</span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-right: 99.45pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: large;">Wasting
little time to follow up last year’s </span><i style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: large;">Time Signatures</i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: large;">, Estill Pollock’s
new collection pulsates with urgency and echoing haunt. While maintaining the
lyricism, gait, and rhythm of its predecessor, </span><i style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: large;">Ark</i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: large;"> moves from a focus on
history and nostalgia to something that feels much more immediate, more pressing,
and is in some holistic way an addressing of the Now. In places such as Part
Two’s </span><i style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: large;">Waves</i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: large;">, “London in Those Times,”
an exquisite ten-page poem looking closely at life in the 19</span><sup style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";">th</sup><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: large;">
century metropolis, </span><i style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: large;">Ark</i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: large;"> is every bit as historical as </span><i style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: large;">Time Signatures</i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: large;">.
“Battersea Reach from Whistler’s House” would also fit quite snugly in the
previous collection; poems circling around Kabul or Texas cheerleaders,
however, not so much.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-right: 99.45pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";"><span style="font-size: medium;">Yet
make no mistake, Pollock’s conversation with the present is not shortsighted
syrup or a modern glaze to mirror the lifestyles, ideology, and aesthetics of
the so-called contemporary age. Pollock’s world view is not tethered to a
narrow-minded preference for our own epoch and location, and in fact laments
that we seem to wallow in them and fail to reach for any greater understanding.
As such,wired by lexiconic virtuosity, these poems move far from the backyard
boardwalk into all directions of space and time (historical, prehistorical,
a-historical and mythical) while carrying our own short moment of human
experience through it all.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-right: 99.45pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";"><span style="font-size: medium;">Indeed,
the overall thrust of <i>Ark </i>comes from an interwoven examination of where
humanity currently sits (or stands) in our journey upon earth. Along the way,
and particularly evident in poems such as Part Two’s “How We Heard the News,” the
veteran poet ponders how much more our age can consume, asking how and when we will
come to terms with our vast post-industrial sowing. Take the ending to “Iron
Gutter Eves,” for example, the fourth poem in Part One (<i>Weather</i>): <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-right: 99.45pt; mso-add-space: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Now empire, heavy water
tars, Dhaka <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-right: 99.45pt; mso-add-space: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Denim mill race, death
cycle rivers, fish ghosts <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-right: 99.45pt; mso-add-space: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Sprig nets acid orange,
pall indigo testament<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-right: 99.45pt; mso-add-space: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Download, old altars <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-right: 99.45pt; mso-add-space: auto; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: 99.45pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Older gods<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-right: 99.45pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";"><span style="font-size: medium;">Yet
this snippet reveals much more: that readers must ultimately come up with their
own questions and conclusions, for Pollock’s poetry is nothing if not images
and snapshots of the moment, foregoing ideology and the scourge of sermon. Still,
there is no absence of urgent voice-bubbling within the imagery, and one need
not trample halfway through the collection to find it.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-right: 99.45pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";"><span style="font-size: medium;">It
must be stated that it takes but a short flip-through of the book to note that <i>Ark’s</i>
major, generalized theme is “weather.” Global warming and the catastrophic
changes due to it have thrusted the modern, industrial world’s concern with climate
far beyond those inconveniences countered by sunglasses and umbrellas. Yet Pollock
is a poet, and a visionary one, not a TV weather forecaster. His lens is not
narrow and when a thundercloud appears over the front lawn, one can be sure
this means more than an afternoon of gardening ruined. This is to say that any close
reading of <i>Ark </i>will reveal that weather and climate are much more a
vehicle than simplistic theme, a topic of transport that takes Pollock’s poetry
wherever it wants to go. “Snow Snagged in Hedges,” for example, is a poem that
ultimately delivers us toward quietude, a poem that feels as if we’ve just
turned off the lights to eternal sleep. And then after “long cold” and “dry
winds,” in the poem “In Places We Invent,” a haunting little poem echoing
humanity’s ultimate ineptitude, carries us to a place birthed by a line like
this one:<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-right: 99.45pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";"><span style="font-size: medium;">Outside, a dead lung, a thousand years from Earth<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-right: 99.45pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";"><span style="font-size: medium;">Numerous
other poems of the collection, poems like “Under the Sahara” and “Neanderthals
in Paris,” forge trips via the weather toward those greater contemporary
ironies, indeed hypocrisies, mentioned above. In <i>Ark</i>, Pollock reaches
into all manifestations of climate, evoking and calling out aspects of the
weather that signify the greater elements and earth itself, moving us toward
the primordial as well. Landforms, natural disasters, geography<a name="_Hlk128228852">—</a>we are transported by words toward an understanding
whose magnitude very quickly wraps us up in transformation, from the simplest
concepts of weather into all things life, existence, and the interrelated human
experience.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-right: 99.45pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";">Ark</span></i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";">
begins to feel even more personal in Part Three (<i>Sanctuary</i>), digging into our choices, behaviors, tendencies and
experiences as human beings, our own gales and tremors, our own droughts and
soakings that are not separate from the natural world even when we attempt to
keep them distant. Much of it is seen in the poem, “A Song.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 99.45pt; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 99.45pt 0cm 0cm; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";"><span style="font-size: medium;">[…]<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 99.45pt; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 99.45pt 0cm 0cm; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 99.45pt; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 99.45pt 0cm 0cm; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";"><span style="font-size: medium;">The
winking jet exhaust, so high <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 99.45pt; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 99.45pt 0cm 0cm; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";"><span style="font-size: medium;">And
far, attracts ground-to-air response<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 99.45pt; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 99.45pt 0cm 0cm; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";"><span style="font-size: medium;">Like
whale song sounding in the deep, and still<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 99.45pt; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 99.45pt 0cm 0cm; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";"><span style="font-size: medium;">Artillery
cudgels orphans in their cellars—the ceasefire <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 99.45pt; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 99.45pt 0cm 0cm; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";"><span style="font-size: medium;">Ragged
as the curtains<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 99.45pt; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 99.45pt 0cm 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 99.45pt; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 99.45pt 0cm 0cm; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";"><span style="font-size: medium;">On
railway platforms we say goodbye <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 99.45pt; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 99.45pt 0cm 0cm; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";"><span style="font-size: medium;">To
little lives, to little preferences <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 99.45pt; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 99.45pt 0cm 0cm; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";"><span style="font-size: medium;">For
park-bench chess and Sunday roasts, with <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 99.45pt; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 99.45pt 0cm 0cm; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";"><span style="font-size: medium;">Everyone
aboard and visas stamped<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 99.45pt; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 99.45pt 0cm 0cm; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";"><span style="font-size: medium;">As
we return to shell holes named for cities<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 99.45pt; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 99.45pt 0cm 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 99.45pt; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 99.45pt 0cm 0cm; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";"><span style="font-size: medium;">The
gristle of burnt terrain<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 99.45pt; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 99.45pt 0cm 0cm; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";"><span style="font-size: medium;">Is
ours, patriot frenzy or cool resolve, both<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 99.45pt; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 99.45pt 0cm 0cm; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";"><span style="font-size: medium;">With
their place, where unclean spirits <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 99.45pt; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 99.45pt 0cm 0cm; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";"><span style="font-size: medium;">Stew
in native fire, met each to each<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 99.45pt; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 99.45pt 0cm 0cm; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";"><span style="font-size: medium;">With
songs of blood and heaven out of reach<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 99.45pt; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 99.45pt 0cm 0cm; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-right: 99.45pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";"><span style="font-size: medium;">More
importantly in my view, in its illumination of all things related to weather, <i>Ark
</i>ties everything that is ‘us’ to that which not only preceded, but that
which comes after humanity. Lines from “A Thundersheet” read:<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-right: 99.45pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";"><span style="font-size: medium;">Deeper than the first grave, time sleeps<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-right: 99.45pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";"><span style="font-size: medium;">There is neither rain, nor the memory of it<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-right: 99.45pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";"><span style="font-size: medium;">This
meeting with the primordial is alive in “Spirit Animals” as well, whose final
stanza exhales:<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 99.45pt; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 99.45pt 0cm 0cm; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";"><span style="font-size: medium;">The
world is frail, each breath the last<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 99.45pt; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 99.45pt 0cm 0cm; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";"><span style="font-size: medium;">Until
we wake in older light, in the counterfeit of days our<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 99.45pt; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 99.45pt 0cm 0cm; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";"><span style="font-size: medium;">Lasting
memory, fire—the fall from grace<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 99.45pt; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 99.45pt 0cm 0cm; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";"><span style="font-size: medium;">That
ends as it began, our shadows flickering<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 99.45pt; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 99.45pt 0cm 0cm; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";"><span style="font-size: medium;">Across
cavern walls<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 99.45pt; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 99.45pt 0cm 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 99.45pt; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 99.45pt 0cm 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";"><span style="font-size: medium;">As
such, <i>Ark</i> is a whirlwind, a blasting volcano, a far-reaching tsunami,
and cumulatively haunting. It is at once focused and all-encompassing, outward-looking
in the extreme while simultaneously introspective. Suffice to say, it is a
mature collection from a poet whose world view is as immense as his poetic talents.
Estill Pollock’s <i>Ark</i>, as with his greater body of work, should not go
unnoticed. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-right: 99.45pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 99.45pt; margin-top: 0cm; margin: 0cm 99.45pt 0cm 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";"><span style="font-size: medium;">—Review
by Timothy Dodd, author of <i>Modern Ancient</i> and <i>Fissures and Other
Stories</i>, first published in <i>The
High Window</i><i><o:p></o:p></i></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-right: 99.45pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-right: 99.45pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></p></div>estillpollockpoetryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10088164671926143530noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8712212324234477265.post-65000674391209382312023-02-18T12:40:00.001+00:002023-02-22T11:27:09.390+00:00A New Review: Time Signatures<p> </p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Time Signatures<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">ISBN 978-1-956782-14-1</span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Broadstone Books</span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">418 Ann Street</span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Frankfort, KY </span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">USA</span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">40601-1929</span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">[NB: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Time Signatures </i>is available in the UK through Blackwell’s (Oxford)
online catalogue.]</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">‘Estill Pollock, a native of
Kentucky, has lived in England for forty years.’ This is part of the blurb on
the back of Pollock’s book; this is useful information. The debate rages with
regards to the importance (or not) of a writer’s life. It’s important in this
case, as Pollock is a poet whose work I’m unfamiliar with, yet I recognise
magazines singing his praises. It’s also important when we consider the work
itself.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">The book is prefaced by a longish
statement announcing that ‘the narratives here are neither history nor biography,
but they share characteristics of each.’ This interests me in thinking about
Pollock’s motivation. Unlike John Seed, who took Mayhew’s writings on London,
where he employed a firm device: every word in Seed’s book <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Pictures from Mayhew </i>was drawn from Henry Mayhew’s writings on
London, Seed writing ‘through’ the work; Pollock reverts to ‘telling’ his
subjects’ stories with accuracy.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">On first reading, Pollock appears
to be adhering to biography. For example, we know that Dylan Thomas did indeed
die in St Vincent’s Hospital in 1953 and that Mary Wollstonecraft attempted
suicide on Putney Bridge in 1795. However, I’m most confident in using the poem
“Grace Notes, 1966” to focus on this review. The poem’s subject matter is The
Beatles, a band that I know a fair bit about.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">The use of the ‘time signature’
of 1966 is interesting here. Pollock reverts to the earliest days of the band’s
history to start the narrative: 1962 and their trips to Hamburg (all factually
correct). If we take a look at the poem itself, we can get a flavour of
Pollock’s writing:</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">Seven sharp, they begin<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">‒fifteen
takes<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Of “Love Me Do”‒this time <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Paul not happy with the drumming [...]<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">And from later in the poem, where
we actually see some of Pollock’s creativity shine:</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">April 7, 1966‒a zephyr rising
from cool mountains</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">Across scented leaves</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">The sea swallowing itself, a
river swollen with light</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">Now waves, now grains, figures
becoming, becoming</p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">Becoming<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">‒John
ghostly at the boundary, loops<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Sounding echo [...]<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Here we have Pollock describing the
process (or at least the acid trip) that Lennon undertook to write the song
“Tomorrow Never Knows.” A quick ‘google’ confirms that the band was in the
studio on that date.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">The real strength of Pollock’s
work is when he breaks from the biographical elements that he employs so
readily, as above. Though of course there is always the mystery and intrigue
associated with writers’ biographies, I wonder whether more of Pollock himself
was needed in these poems. As noted, when the imagination meets the biography
the poems shine. What is to be admired, especially, are the risks that Pollock
takes in terms of form. There are some long poems here. For example, “Grace
Notes, 1966” runs to fourteen pages. Of course, if the reader is absorbed into
a poem about the subjects on offer here, there’s a real opportunity to dive
into the material.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">‒Andrew Taylor, for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Journal</i></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<span face=""Calibri","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br clear="all" style="break-before: page; mso-special-character: line-break; page-break-before: always;" />
</span>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>estillpollockpoetryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10088164671926143530noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8712212324234477265.post-73650408519064666942023-01-19T15:20:00.000+00:002023-01-19T15:20:04.870+00:00And Then - a new e-chapbook<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUXDptSixiuMDIk8OmXTcOSHf7uxM6SjP0GD1jMLiRcJvR7e3ozaS90FgYZZhy7BEoRGW54dum6YKnBKj9aCoMIoGAyqjOwt3aeJln1ycdYzuMHTz6FTmiullGVW5yCHgjMeh2LgJhefC3p1TvG427Lzk9LujLcZq1tESFCpH7fi_Fv92j9hb7QBYAvA/s734/Left_palm_print_-_1.svg.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="734" data-original-width="640" height="160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUXDptSixiuMDIk8OmXTcOSHf7uxM6SjP0GD1jMLiRcJvR7e3ozaS90FgYZZhy7BEoRGW54dum6YKnBKj9aCoMIoGAyqjOwt3aeJln1ycdYzuMHTz6FTmiullGVW5yCHgjMeh2LgJhefC3p1TvG427Lzk9LujLcZq1tESFCpH7fi_Fv92j9hb7QBYAvA/w140-h160/Left_palm_print_-_1.svg.png" width="140" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">We are pleased to announce that a new e-chapbook, <i>And Then, </i>is published by <i>Mudlark </i>in the United States. The edition of 12 poems includes a selection from the forthcoming (print) collection, <i>Ark,</i> to be<i> </i>published in 2023 by Broadstone Books.</div><p></p><p>The e-chapbook is free, and can be downloaded <a href="https://mudlark.webdelsol.com/chaps/mudlark74/pollock.html" target="_blank">here.</a>.</p><p>Thanks to editor William Slaughter for the excellent presentation of the edition.</p>estillpollockpoetryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10088164671926143530noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8712212324234477265.post-80240742585160769192022-12-14T14:14:00.003+00:002022-12-14T14:14:33.269+00:00Technical Update<p>The "Feedburner" facility for subscriptions has been disabled by Google and is no longer supported. It looks like this at the bottom of the Page:</p><p style="text-align: center;"><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: #539bcd; color: #bbbbbb; font-size: 12px;">Subscribe to: </span><a class="feed-link" href="https://estillpollockpoetry.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default" style="background-color: #539bcd; color: #ff9900; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank" type="application/atom+xml">Posts (Atom)</a></p><p style="text-align: left;">Unfortunately, the edit facility to delete the link button has also been disabled, and so it remains in view. If anyone has tried to subscribe to the Blog over a period of time, the link will have opened to an HTML code dump. We were recently made aware of the issue by T.L. Rankin, and we thank him for the information. We have no control over these actions by Google, but we apologise for any inconvenience.</p><p style="text-align: left;">To provide a functioning subscription link, we have now added a 'Subscribe' button at the bottom of the Page (the large white box). If you would like to subscribe to the occasional posts here, simply enter your preferred email address and click on Subscribe. Check your email Inbox to confirm the subscription, and in future the notifications of new posts will come to you directly by email.</p><p style="text-align: left;">- estillpollockpoetry</p>estillpollockpoetryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10088164671926143530noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8712212324234477265.post-51103522842303620472022-10-25T12:59:00.012+01:002023-04-15T15:32:09.360+01:00"Mason-Dixon"<p style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;">In the past few months, a number of Estill Pollock's latest poems have appeared in English and U.S. periodicals, most recently among them the long poem,"Mason-Dixon," published in the English journal </span><i style="text-align: left;">The High Window.</i></p><p>The poem is included in a new collection, <i>Ark,</i> scheduled for publication in 2023.</p><p><a href="https://thehighwindowpress.com/2022/10/25/estill-pollock-mason-dixon/?fbclid=IwAR0gsOI2_DhT665s5De6DJJUgVgxLew_Ak2jaDpv0kN-Y6_DESvddgOOVgU" target="_blank">https://thehighwindowpress.com/2022/10/25/estill-pollock-mason-dixon/?fbclid=IwAR0gsOI2_DhT665s5De6DJJUgVgxLew_Ak2jaDpv0kN-Y6_DESvddgOOVgU</a><br /></p>estillpollockpoetryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10088164671926143530noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8712212324234477265.post-62438935080543384572022-07-20T12:45:00.005+01:002022-08-04T07:38:47.165+01:00Review: Time Signatures<p></p><p class="xmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: black; font-size: 13.3333px;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: inherit;">The following review by American poet and novelist Timothy Dodd will appear in the Winter issue of the British journal, <i>The High Window. </i>We would like to thank the editor for allowing the review to be posted here at this time, to coincide with the publication date of <i>Time Signatures</i>.</span></span></p><p class="xmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: black; font-size: 13.3333px;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: inherit;">_______</span></span></p><p class="xmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: black; font-size: 13.3333px;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="xmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: black; font-size: 13.3333px;"><i><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: inherit;">Time Signatures</span></i></span></p><p class="xmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: black; font-size: 13.3333px;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: inherit;">Estill Pollock</span></span></p><p class="xmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: black; font-size: 13.3333px;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="xmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: black; font-size: 13.3333px;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: inherit;">Broadstone Books</span></span></p><p class="xmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: black; font-size: 13.3333px;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: inherit;">Broadstone Media LLC</span></span></p><p class="xmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: black; font-size: 13.3333px;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: inherit;">418 Ann Street</span></span></p><p class="xmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: black; font-size: 13.3333px;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: inherit;">Frankfort, KY 40601-1929</span></span></p><p class="xmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: black; font-size: 13.3333px;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: inherit;">USA</span></span></p><p class="xmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: black; font-size: 13.3333px;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="xmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: black; font-size: 13.3333px;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: inherit;">BroadstoneBooks.com</span></span></p><p class="xmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: black; font-size: 13.3333px;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="xmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: black; font-size: 13.3333px;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: inherit;">https://www.broadstonebooks.com/shop/p/time-signatures-poetry-by-estill-pollock</span></span></p><p class="xmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: black; font-size: 13.3333px;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="xmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">Given the ease and consistency with which the chiseled, image-rich narrative poems of </span><i style="font-size: 13.3333px;">Time Signatures </i><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">flow, one can get almost complacent in reading them. Make no mistake, however. Estill Pollock's words scorch <i>and </i>soothe. And, not cheaply. With this new collection, there is no obfuscation as to what the veteran poet has placed in our hands: these sets of poems are a moving museum we can carry anywhere, tangible time capsules to open as extensively as we wish. Indeed, Pollock's provisions speak like magical paintings on museum walls whose haunting clarity and force enamor and overwhelm even as th</span><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">ey resurrect times and places so frequently erased by more recent and faddish avenues. The poems of </span><i style="font-size: 13.3333px;">Time Signatures</i><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;"> are anchored in the past, yet allow the mind to dream, refresh and begin anew, preserving the beauty of lives, experiences and eras while simultaneously keeping them in motion to find new chapters alive and breathing in their drift.</span></span></p><p class="xmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: black; font-size: 13.3333px;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="xmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">Let me clarify: <i>Time Signatures </i>is divided into two sections</span><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">—the first focuses primarily on the lives of literary figures (Kafka, Dickens, Auden, Edward Fitzgerald, and others); the second consists of four poems, each taking on a specific painting (Rembrandt, Vermeer, Rubens and Brueghel, respectively). As Pollock mentions in his brief introductory remarks, the poems are </span><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">unmistakably</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> embedded in biography and history, but not tied to them. Each poem is situated within its own course of events, lives and </span><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">milieus</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> that the reader can see and touch, but from there the poetic impulse drives, frees and expands, </span><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">imbuing</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> revered artists with a conscience of their own. In Pollock's hands, lived experiences of crafters and creators are now dynamic moments of humanity and introspection</span></span><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">—doubts, difficulties and desires that explore their own artistic output, travels, mental and physical health, and more.</span></span></p><p class="xmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: black; font-size: 13.3333px;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="xmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: black; font-size: 13.3333px;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: inherit;">The poems in <i>Time Signatures </i>are histories of creations, but also creations of histories born of energy, flux and imagination. They are facts as fiction and fictions of fact which, more importantly, might show the error of ever believing too much in such a dichotomy from the start. In any case, who isn't enamored when a perceived dichotomy gets lovingly clipped by the joy and curiosity of the poetic principle?</span></span></p><p class="xmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: black; font-size: 13.3333px;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="xmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: black; font-size: 13.3333px;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: inherit;">But what does this look like on the page? Examples will say far more than any summary.</span></span></p><p class="xmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="xmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: black; font-size: 13.3333px;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: inherit;">"Dickens in Italy, 1844" begins with Boz's own despondence, lovingly rendered:</span></span></p><p class="xmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="xmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">Chuzzlewit and Twist</span><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">—inventions of soot</span></span></p><p class="xmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: black; font-size: 13.3333px;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: inherit;">And piecrust drains, until nothing but a shattered soul</span></span></p><p class="xmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: black; font-size: 13.3333px;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: inherit;">Remains of me, instalments of characters driven headlong</span></span></p><p class="xmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: black; font-size: 13.3333px;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: inherit;">To firesides from Blackheath</span></span></p><p class="xmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">To Belgrave Square</span><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">—my mind is coal ash, scrapings</span></span></p><p class="xmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: black; font-size: 13.3333px;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: inherit;">From the hearth, and still the Public clamours</span></span></p><p class="xmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: black; font-size: 13.3333px;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: inherit;">More, <i>more</i></span></span></p><p class="xmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: black; font-size: 13.3333px;"><i><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></i></span></p><p class="xmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: black; font-size: 13.3333px;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: inherit;">And from this stanza in "Brecht Translating Shelley, 1938" one sees how Pollock turns historicity to poetics... and vice versa:</span></span></p><p class="xmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: black; font-size: 13.3333px;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="xmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: black; font-size: 13.3333px;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: inherit;">I am a breath ahead of the Nazis, my coffin</span></span></p><p class="xmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: black; font-size: 13.3333px;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: inherit;">With its trap door, my gallows noose of soap, a ventriloquist</span></span></p><p class="xmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: black; font-size: 13.3333px;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: inherit;">Squawking names and dates of places where</span></span></p><p class="xmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: black; font-size: 13.3333px;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: inherit;">I am meant to be, living on a small island, in a house</span></span></p><p class="xmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">With whitewashed walls</span><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">—my refuge</span></span></p><p class="xmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: black; font-size: 13.3333px;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: inherit;">From my countrymen, their rhetoric of barbed wire</span></span></p><p class="xmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: black; font-size: 13.3333px;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: inherit;">And iron weather trumpeted from the towers</span></span></p><p class="xmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: black; font-size: 13.3333px;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: inherit;">Of burning libraries</span></span></p><p class="xmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: black; font-size: 13.3333px;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="xmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">And here is a brief charge from "Auden and the Imagined Life, 1930"</span><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">—a personal favorite:</span></span></p><p class="xmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: black; font-size: 13.3333px;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="xmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: black; font-size: 13.3333px;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: inherit;">My childhood was an album of familial tweed</span></span></p><p class="xmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">Like a patient with a cobweb of neuroses</span><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">—hidden</span></span></p><p class="xmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: black; font-size: 13.3333px;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: inherit;">There among the paper lanterns</span></span></p><p class="xmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: black; font-size: 13.3333px;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: inherit;">In the pines, the arsonist, the past</span></span></p><p class="xmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: black; font-size: 13.3333px;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: inherit;">A tinder twist of public summons and desire</span></span></p><p class="xmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: black; font-size: 13.3333px;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="xmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">As one sees in these brief examples, Pollock's imagery is a continual cloudburst, and his language true and never forced. Through these vehicles, the poet delivers pathos from the created introspection of some of our most beloved artists. Quite simply, those intrigued by literary figures, geography, history and art should not miss this rewarding collection. These poems are migrant birds returning to give us another look: we remember that which has enthralled us in the past, yet see our subjects now from an entirely new angle as well</span><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">—our own wings lifted.</span></span></p><p class="xmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: black; font-size: 13.3333px;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="xmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">—</span><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">Timothy Dodd, 2022</span></span></p><p class="xmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: black; font-size: 13.3333px;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="xmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: black; font-size: 13.3333px;"><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="xmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: black; font-size: 13.3333px;"><i><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></i></span></p><p class="xmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: black; font-size: 13.3333px;"><i><span style="color: #cccccc; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></i></span></p><p class="xmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc;"><br /></span></p><br /><p></p>estillpollockpoetryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10088164671926143530noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8712212324234477265.post-26163707125162357342022-06-05T08:11:00.000+01:002022-06-05T08:11:29.084+01:00Press Release: Time Signatures publication<p style="text-align: justify;">Broadstone Books is pleased to announce the publication of Estill Pollock's latest poetry collection, <i>Time Signatures. </i>Publication date in the United States is August 1, 2022, with UK availability to follow in the Autumn. The book will be available at a discounted price on the publisher's website, and at RRP on Amazon.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">For more information, visit the <a href="https://www.broadstonebooks.com/shop/p/time-signatures-poetry-by-estill-pollock" style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;" target="_blank">Time Signatures</a> page at Broadstone Books.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p><i></i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjh3zKThvI1u_z8YQ3t9WV-eUQBeJ8u-LkazsGRsTTBULo-G_fO-D236zEGjvUesnvSX9YjvmGxIYHUoEbu3R9h2Vw8VcmbwtLYO1v1aAkk-Z4NOW-tH1d8CgsRv1XQzRdTfR1Uj1BEc-QkTH2RG3ObnGnFfO7n_X0Z0k6A2-J1f24ydocdo-gzE4DNIg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1388" data-original-width="917" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjh3zKThvI1u_z8YQ3t9WV-eUQBeJ8u-LkazsGRsTTBULo-G_fO-D236zEGjvUesnvSX9YjvmGxIYHUoEbu3R9h2Vw8VcmbwtLYO1v1aAkk-Z4NOW-tH1d8CgsRv1XQzRdTfR1Uj1BEc-QkTH2RG3ObnGnFfO7n_X0Z0k6A2-J1f24ydocdo-gzE4DNIg" width="159" /></a><i></i></div><div><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 82.75pt 0.0001pt 4cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><br /></i></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 82.75pt 0.0001pt 4cm; text-align: justify;"><i style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></i></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 82.75pt 0.0001pt 4cm; text-align: justify;"><i style="font-family: inherit;">Estill Pollock's Time Signatures is a hugely ambitious and,
in the end, wonderfully achieved engagement with longer poetic forms. Unique
also is Pollock's exploration of history, ideas and the lives of cultural
icons. Pollock wears his learning lightly, though this... would mean little to
us were it not for the memorability of his language, his appeal to the senses
and above all his skill in controlling the headlong thrust of his narratives.</i></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 82.75pt 0.0001pt 4cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-style: italic; text-align: left;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 82.75pt 0.0001pt 4cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-style: italic; text-align: left;">– </span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-style: italic; text-align: left;">David
Cooke, founder and editor of <i>The High Window</i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-style: italic; margin: 0cm 82.75pt 0.0001pt 4cm; text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></i></p>
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 82.75pt 0.0001pt 4cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><br /></i></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 82.75pt 0.0001pt 4cm; text-align: left;"><i style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><br /></i></p></div><div style="text-align: left;"><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 82.75pt 0.0001pt 4cm; text-align: left;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 82.75pt 0.0001pt 4cm; text-align: left;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 82.75pt 0.0001pt 4cm; text-align: left;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 82.75pt 0.0001pt 4cm; text-align: left;"><br /></p></div><p></p>estillpollockpoetryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10088164671926143530noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8712212324234477265.post-81527410330424221232022-05-19T15:15:00.047+01:002022-05-19T17:07:37.683+01:00Entropy (Review)<p>We are pleased to offer a new review of Estill Pollock's 2021 poetry collection, <i>Entropy. </i>The review by Melissa Todd was published in the Summer 2022 issue of the English periodical, <i>The Journal.</i></p><p><i>...</i></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";">The
word 'entropy' derives from the Greek for transformation. It's come to mean an
unravelling into chaos. There is a good deal of chaos in this book, much of it
generated by war; but for me, the real meat lies elsewhere, in the more
domestic, familial work, much of it in the second section, <i>Goners.</i><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";">"Visitor
Hours," the unhappy tale of a trip to a care home, triumphs:</span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";"> </span><i style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";">Recognition spikes or troughs. Today, you remember</i></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";"> me, a little, our cup of tea
enough to<o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";"> stopper the mind's drift<o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";"> a moment...</span></i></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";">"Christmas
Island, 1958" left me white-knuckled with fury for the young men used a
guinea pigs to test the effects of a nuclear blast, the story told simply,
dispassionately, and all the more effective for it.</span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";">The
timely "In Kiev" gives us some historical background to the current
crisis:</span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";"> </span><i style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";">Between the dungeon and power the path</i></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";"> A blade's edge<o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";">There
is much in this book that's contemporary, as in "Monster," a
sprawling beast which echoes Covid's unstoppable path, its pacy gallop, (its)
guttural gasped syllables adding frenzy to the lines and our memories:</span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";"> </span><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";"> Beyond the sickness leaning into
every breath</span></i></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";">Part
Three, </span><i style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";">Water Harp,</i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";"> consists of
smaller, sketch-like verses, each named for its opening line, as if taken from
a notebook found after the author's time, each a snapshot of a moment, a
feeling, a day, a colour:</span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";"> </span><i style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";">The mind turning from itself, regarding</i></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";"> Time unrecovered, the sap of
entitlement<o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";"> And tomorrow</span></i></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";">This
is a book to mull on, long after you've devoured the final line.</span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";">...</span></p><p>
</p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The review is now listed at the end of the sequence:</span></p><p><i><a href="https://estillpollockpoetry.blogspot.com/p/other-reviews.html">https://estillpollockpoetry.blogspot.com/p/other-reviews.html</a><br /></i></p>estillpollockpoetryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10088164671926143530noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8712212324234477265.post-30881368322360347982022-02-19T10:17:00.001+00:002022-05-12T14:34:24.225+01:00Press Release (Review)<p>The long poem, "The Night Watch," which is included in <i>Time Signatures, </i>a new poetry collection scheduled for publication by Broadstone Books in Autumn, 2022, has been reviewed recently. The <i>Other Reviews </i>page has been updated to include the review.</p><p><a href="https://estillpollockpoetry.blogspot.com/p/other-reviews.html">https://estillpollockpoetry.blogspot.com/p/other-reviews.html</a></p>estillpollockpoetryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10088164671926143530noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8712212324234477265.post-46159801182323200792022-01-10T08:05:00.000+00:002022-01-10T08:05:54.978+00:00Press Release (Entropy update)<p>We are pleased to announce that Estill Pollock's recent poetry collection, <i>Entropy,</i> published by Broadstone Books in 2021, is now listed in the UK through Blackwell's in Oxford. Previously, the title was available only through U.S./North American distribution. </p><p>U.K. readers will now be able to order the book directly at:</p><p>https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/Entropy-by-Estill-Pollock/9781937968922</p><p>The publisher has asked it to be noted that the distributor has erroneously listed the the title as hardback but it is in fact perfect bound.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>estillpollockpoetryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10088164671926143530noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8712212324234477265.post-71302216290060333582021-09-10T11:46:00.006+01:002021-09-10T11:49:11.514+01:00Press Release<p>Broadstone Books (Broadstone Media LLC) is pleased to announce that Estill Pollock's latest poetry collection, <i>Entropy,</i> has been listed as a Recommended title on the latest SPD (Small Press Distribution) network in the United States.</p><p><a href="https://www.broadstonebooks.com/shop/p/entropy-poetry-by-estill-pollock" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: large;">Entropy</span></a><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbS5hJdYzkvP4rHOF6tausU9krvzQTplRV1W759he-u6JUVOCaSKtuWKN4gP9UWmnIWTKUbPWnBW9HPfWdaftfFrwTH2C_uaQO_TJ3ozzpiSDRTovNZZklX-w8wX3T-SdsOsnQPMZ4Vcra/s1136/Entropy+cover+image.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="1136" data-original-width="750" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbS5hJdYzkvP4rHOF6tausU9krvzQTplRV1W759he-u6JUVOCaSKtuWKN4gP9UWmnIWTKUbPWnBW9HPfWdaftfFrwTH2C_uaQO_TJ3ozzpiSDRTovNZZklX-w8wX3T-SdsOsnQPMZ4Vcra/s320/Entropy+cover+image.jpg" width="211" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>estillpollockpoetryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10088164671926143530noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8712212324234477265.post-19801500229557903442021-08-29T09:56:00.003+01:002022-01-18T14:26:36.367+00:00<p><br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1pn2w8Fd8hzICUZw_KcvFfOxdMp6ihm5e4c7lw0LsTKwI7xi6NHjaQQUiV3lPHWncu1qPPEsMj1RCNGpxUw7ReUIxZ8vRqdCfKkgPRQB-lW8Mi9xYh54kvcCiLS4M7HJOK9G0GcdiMRfC/s1136/Entropy+cover+image.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1136" data-original-width="750" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1pn2w8Fd8hzICUZw_KcvFfOxdMp6ihm5e4c7lw0LsTKwI7xi6NHjaQQUiV3lPHWncu1qPPEsMj1RCNGpxUw7ReUIxZ8vRqdCfKkgPRQB-lW8Mi9xYh54kvcCiLS4M7HJOK9G0GcdiMRfC/s320/Entropy+cover+image.jpg" width="211" /></a></div><span style="font-size: x-large;"><p>Entropy</p></span><p></p><p>We are pleased to announce the publication of Estill Pollock's latest poetry collection, <i>Entropy,</i> published in the United States by Broadstone Books in Kentucky. </p><p>The book is available now through the publisher website at a discounted price, or through Amazon. In the UK, the book is available through Blackwell's (Oxford) online listing.</p><p><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://www.broadstonebooks.com/shop/p/entropy-poetry-by-estill-pollock">https://www.broadstonebooks.com/shop/p/entropy-poetry-by-estill-pollock</a></span></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>estillpollockpoetryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10088164671926143530noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8712212324234477265.post-58578690935864297022020-06-30T07:41:00.000+01:002020-06-30T07:41:40.752+01:00New Poems in 2020<span style="color: white;">In 2020, new poems are scheduled for publication in the English journals, <i>The Dawntreader, Orbis, Reach </i>and <i>Sarasvati. </i>The long poem, "Monster" is published in the New York journal, <i>Projected Letters</i>, which had previously published the poem sequence, "Water Harp" and the individual poems, "Ex Cathedra" and "Snake."</span>estillpollockpoetryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10088164671926143530noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8712212324234477265.post-54803994786832020502017-01-09T13:30:00.002+00:002021-12-29T08:29:36.340+00:00Press Release<br />
<span style="color: white;"><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Notification has been received from publishers <b>Forward Poetry</b><span style="font-size: large;"> </span>that the poem, "Asides to Walt Whitman, Where Brooklyn Ferry Intersects the Seventh Circle of Dante's Hell" is to be included in their new anthology of political poetry, <i>Political Fortunes, </i>scheduled for publication in March 2017.</span><br />
<span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><br /></span>
<span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">On publication, copies of the anthology will be lodged with the British Library and other libraries in the UK and Republic of Ireland.</span><br />
<span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><br /></span>
<span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Further information will be available at www.forwardpoetry.co.uk.</span><br /></span>
<span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><br /></span>estillpollockpoetryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10088164671926143530noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8712212324234477265.post-28813549567722718272016-10-01T08:12:00.002+01:002016-10-01T08:12:30.966+01:00Relic Environments Trilogy: Hail and Farewell<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"><span style="color: white;">As with the
final posting of poems in the <i>Blackwater
Quartet </i>book cycle, I wanted to thank readers who have kept faith with the <i>Relic Environments Trilogy </i>series. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"><span style="color: white;">In
the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Ukraine, and in Asian
countries as well, a small but faithful readership as been maintained, which I
hope has brought these poems to the attention of the public more widely than
was possible in the original publications (For information about these earlier
editions, see the <i>Introduction </i>post.).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: white;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"><span style="color: white;">Further, the complete MS of </span></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">the publisher's penultimate draft </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">is made available through the
link below. The MS is correct in most
respects although without pagination, and although the draft here lists the collection as published in Kings Lynn, Norfolk by Biddles Ltd., in fact it was printed in Poland.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"><span style="color: white;">Here, too, are included the excellent, evocative drawings by Meredith T. Smith, set aside in earlier drafts but appearing here as in the published edition.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: white;"><span style="color: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Again as with
</span><i style="color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif;">Blackwater Quartet, </i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: white;">the work here can
be sampled for personal or educational purposes, provided that the appropriate
citations for author and publication copyright are made, as applicable.</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif";"><span style="color: white;">Estill
Pollock</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: white;">Norfolk,
England</span></span></div>
<br />
<br />
<span style="color: blue; font-size: large;"><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BwntRNwevgcvd3dTbmc0aFlNS2c/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank">Relic Environments Trilogy</a></span><br />
<br />
<br />estillpollockpoetryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10088164671926143530noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8712212324234477265.post-66938128193831233732016-10-01T08:09:00.002+01:002016-10-01T08:09:47.892+01:00Relic Environments Trilogy: Book III, Part 2.vi<span style="color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>from</i> Book III, Part 2, <i>Animus</i></span><br />
<span style="color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i><br /></i></span>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">Afterward</span></i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">:
Into the Forest</span></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">Everything remembered<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">A catechism of blood
rehearsed by open fires<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">Of
itself… of itself<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">Time knotted thick as noose
rope<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">The cottage window shimmers
between worlds<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">What do you see<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">A path of thorns… there was
always Death and Judgment<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">Three wishes, a shoe by a
hearth, a task or journey</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: white;">We save our pity for
ourselves, our guises</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">And ferocity<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">A spell, a notation of
otherness <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: -34.05pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">Slips
its lead, the changeling passing unnoticed through the room<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">Or we are rich, or we are
lost<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">Or we are devoured, again
and again, yet live<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">What
is spoken was in the mind<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">Before the stories had names<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">These landscapes, rivers,
creatures, everything recognised<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">Everything remembered<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">Into the forest, the path we
took to meet ourselves<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">These others</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: -15.35pt; mso-outline-level: 1;">
<br /></div>
estillpollockpoetryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10088164671926143530noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8712212324234477265.post-34616692652960693412016-10-01T08:05:00.000+01:002016-10-01T08:05:19.615+01:00Relic Environments Trilogy: Book III, Part 2.v<span style="color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>from </i>Book III, Part 2, <i>Animus</i></span><br />
<span style="color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i><br /></i></span>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: large;">III. A Mask of Mirrors</span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">Snow-White and the Seven Dwarfs<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">It
was no fairytale.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">That winter the mother died,
but just before she died<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">she saw her daughter, still
covered in birth fluids,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">and said, <i>So pale, my love, your rosebud mouth<o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">so small, and dark curls black as ravens.<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">But these were her last
words, and the King her husband<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">ordered a servant to pass a
candle flame before her eyes<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">for any sign,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">but there was nothing.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">Already the cheeks were
sunken, and the bedbugs<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">crawled out of her hair,
dank<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">with sweat from the killing
birth.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">The
child’s name, a scrabble of diphthongs <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">in keeping with her class,
was entered in the annuls, <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">but her pet name was Snow
White.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">The King remarried, this
time to his dead wife’s sister.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">(The woman was slim as a
mink, <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">and with slinky looks she caught
the King<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">before her sister was cold
in the ground.)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">She was wily, and jealous of
the King’s attention<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">to her sister’s child, but
thought,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">When he’s dead, the kingdom’s mine.<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">One
day, the Queen was walking in her garden<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">and heard two
ladies-in-waiting <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">beyond the yew hedge,
gossiping.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">One said, …o<i>f course,<o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">she’ll have nothing but the clothes she’s standing in<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">when the girl inherits.<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">And the other agreed, <i>Gold follows the bloodline,<o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">a<i>nd the king’s not one to wait around<o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: white;"><i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">when her looks go.</span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">The Queen went straight to
her husband.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">He said, <i>Blood to blood, it </i>is<i> the rule, and can’t be broken<o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">while my daughter lives,<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">but you’ll always have a place in the household<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: white;"><i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">after I’m gone.</span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">Her large grey eyes were
fixed on Snow White,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">who sat in the corner,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">dressing a wicker doll in
silk.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">Then turning to the king she
raged,<i> I am the </i>Queen.<i><o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">I’ll not be compared to a cooking pot.<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">As she spoke, the King
noticed, for the first time, <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">around her eyes the laughter
lines, fine <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">as spider’s web, and on the
back <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">of the fist she banged the
table with, <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">a liver spot or two.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;"> *<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">‘The
Queen remained in her apartments<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">for seven years, the windows
closed over with tapestries. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">Her jaw line sagged, and
when she sat<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">her belly rested on her lap.
Every year,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">she looked a little more
like her mother, who too<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">had married above her
station, <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">but could not outrun<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">her peasant-stock of humpy
back and bad teeth…’<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">…The Queen woke with a
start, and shook her head<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">to clear the nightmare − for
a moment<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">she had seen herself in a
dark room, in the looking-glass<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">her mother’s face…<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">Her
hormones were hallucinogens. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">But her hatred for Snow
White was real enough.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">It was a pampered pooch.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">She baby-talked it, roughed
its coat<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">and nuzzled it for ticks and
fleas.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">It was special.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">She sent for her old family
servant, one she could trust<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">not to talk, and not to go
squeamish<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">when fine talk turned to
sweaty jelly.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">The old servant woman was
good with herbs, <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">and boiled them to a
tincture<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">laced into a fatty lamb’s
leg<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">she fed the King’s best
greyhound; it shivered once<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">nose to tail, and died.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">The King found it in the
hall, black tongue lolling.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">The Queen said, <i>Poor thing, it must be rancid meat<o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: white;"><i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">I saw Snow White set out; she never liked its barking.</span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">The King’s look was thunder,
<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">but he never said a word.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">The King had a pretty mare.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">He had bought it for his
wife, the mother of his daughter,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">and every time he saw it<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">he remembered his love for
Snow White’s mother.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">A
stable boy came to the King, and told him<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">the pretty mare had fitted,
its mouth<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">a bloody foam, and the Queen
said, <i>Poor thing,<o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">it must be the bitter flowers<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">I saw Snow White mixing in the oats;<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">she never liked that little horse.<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">The King’s look was thunder,
<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">but he never said a word.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">Later, the King sat at his
table, and the Queen said,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">My Dear, have a piece of chicken,<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">to take your mind off your poor horse and hound.<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">The King reached out to take
the dish,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">but saw no mealy chicken
claw −<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">instead, a broad hawk talon,
and round it<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">a silver ring with his own
mark etched in:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">his best hawk now
drumsticks.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">The Queen said, <i>Poor thing.<o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: white;"><i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Snow White, I think, never liked it stooping so…</span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">But the Queen was clever,
and said, <i>My Dear,<o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">I am ill with worry for your daughter. <o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: white;"><i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">I sicken from her wickedness and hurt to you.</span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">The King considered his
Queen,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">that he had wronged her in
loving so wicked a child,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">and he asked her pardon, and
her pleasure,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">and she replied,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">A vial of Snow White’s blood, stoppered with her toe,<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">or lungs and liver in a salty stew; <o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">that will do.<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">And the King went pale, and
shook,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">and knew a promise was a
promise, and a King’s promise<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">greater still, but when he
found Snow White,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">and saw her raven hair, her
rosebud mouth, and she<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">the image of her mother, he
called the cook<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">who brought a suckling pig,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">and cut and cooked the parts
the Queen demanded.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">The
Queen said to her old servant, <i>That’s it<o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: white;"><i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">for little Miss, and tasty too</span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;"> *<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">In her garden the Queen had
a well, and in the well<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">she kept a fish. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">The
old servant<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">sprinkled a few herbs on the
water<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">and the fish surfaced for a
nibble.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">But the herbs were powerful,
and made the well water<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">clear as silvered glass, and
the fish<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">speak.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">The Queen looked down, and
called,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">Little fish, little fish, <o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">here is my wish, that you should praise<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">my beauty above all others, raise<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: white;"><i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">it like a star, shiny in a golden dish.</span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">But
the fish, unused to speaking, mumbled<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">something the Queen just
missed,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">except the last words<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">bubbling on the surface…<i>Snow White…<o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;"> *<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">The
King had called the cook<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">who had brought the suckling
pig,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">and cut and cooked the parts
the Queen demanded.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">And Snow White, pretty as
she was, the image<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">of her mother, stood before
her father,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">asking, <i>Father, what is your pleasure</i>… <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">And
the King replied, <i>Daughter<o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">it’s best you go; you’re the image of your mother<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">and a child no longer. Too pretty by half<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">by my way of thinking. <o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">If you were seven I’d give you a spanking,<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">but you’re fourteen now: hold out your hand.<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="color: white;">The King took a knife and
hacked her little finger,</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">saying, <i>One for my hound.</i><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">And Snow White said, <i>It doesn’t hurt,<o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">because it’s you.<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">And the King took the knife
and hacked the next,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">and her little rings tinkled
across the floor:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">And one for my pretty mare.<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">And Snow White said, <i>It doesn’t hurt,<o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">because it’s you.<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">And
the King took the knife, and hacked<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">her middle finger, long and
white, <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">its painted nail the shape
of an almond, and said,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">This last for the hawk, the hawk<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">I hunted with.<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">And Snow White said, <i>It doesn’t hurt,<o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">because it’s you.<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">And blood splodged the floor
in little drips,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">and Snow White said<i>, Father<o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">is there anything else you’d have me do… <o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">The
King thought and thought, then<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">thought better of it, and
took her to the forest.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">He said, <i>Your Stepmother thinks you’re through…<o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: white;"><i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">no peace for me unless it’s true</span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">And Snow White walked off
into the forest,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">a silk wrapped round her
hand.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">She looked back just once,
to see the King’s dogs <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">chewing at something on the
ground.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;"> *<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">In her garden,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">the Queen looked down the
well, and called,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">Little fish, little fish, <o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">here is my wish, that you should praise<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">my beauty above all others, raise<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: white;"><i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">it like a star, shiny in a golden dish.</span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">The fish cleared its throat:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">In this garden here, it’s true,<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">none more beautiful than you,<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">but look about,<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">your competition is a crone and trout;<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">in the forest walks the ravishing <o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">Snow White, spared in secret by the King.<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">The Queen went straight to
her husband.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">He confessed, he thought it
best<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">Snow White was banished
− <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">he found a fourteen-year-old
girl <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">unsettling: that raven hair,
that tiny rosebud mouth, her<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">long smooth shiny legs.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">The Queen turned to her old
servant:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: white;"><i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Find her</span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">The old woman turned round
once,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">twice, again, and at the
third turn<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">turned into a bird,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">a scruffy crow that flew out
over the castle walls<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">towards the forest.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;"> *<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">Snow
White walked and walked<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">and walked, crossing seven
hills.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">Low,
dead branches clattered against <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">ancient trees, and she could
hear animals<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">scuttling through the
undergrowth.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">The
path went by a dell, and she thought it odd<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">a little chimney poked
through the moss<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">by the thicket of trees.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">Her
stumpy hand ached, the silk<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">she’d wrapped it in<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">by now soaked through with
blood.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">Brambles had scratched her
knees and ankles,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">and she walked down the hill<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">to the hut, a faint smoke <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">drifting from the chimney
stack of hollow elm.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">She
opened the door, stooping through it<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">into a room with a low
ceiling strung with cobwebs.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">The
floor was greasy and pulled at her shoes<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">as she stepped farther in
the darkened room,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">and saw the stuffed straw
bundles in a row.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">She flopped on one that
seemed to fit, and slept.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;"> *<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">Seven dwarfs, the last of
seven families,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">returned from their mountain
mine, and the gold<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">they hoarded in its shafts.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">They were stout and broad as
broad oak buckets,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">grimy, the way men are, when
left<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">to themselves.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">Yet,
grimed and rough, swearing oaths<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">against their bent backs and
stinking feet,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">they stopped cold:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">a creature slept a perfect
sleep, a raven-haired sleep,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">a dreamy rosebud mouth of
sleep.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">One
lifted up her skirts to see, and some<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">looked close, and others
looked away, but as they looked<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">a little gold dust fell from
their collars,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">sprinkle-sprinkle, and Snow
White<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">sat up, and sneezed, <i>Ah-choo.<o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">The eldest of the seven came
forward,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: white;"><i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">You’re trespassing − get out</span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">, <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">thinking only of his
mountain hoard.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">The
others were less inclined<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">to see her off, thinking of
yet another day<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">of burnt porridge<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">and trousers stiff with
bacon fat.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">They
struck a deal: with her one good hand<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">she’d scrub and cook<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">and tidy-up the inglenook,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">in exchange for bedding
space, soup,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">and clean knickers twice a
week<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">(They fought to bring the
water…).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">Outside, across the mossy
roof,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">the shadow of a bird…<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;"> *<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">The Queen took her servant’s
old cloak,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">wrapping it close around her
head and shoulders,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">smudged her face with hearth
soot, <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">and practised her lines.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">Catching herself in the
looking-glass,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">she thought, <i>I look just like my mother… <o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">Into
the forest, over seven hills, she came<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">to the hut… tap-tap,
tap-tap.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">Snow White<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">left scrubbing the floor,
blew a wisp of hair<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">out of her eyes, and opened
the door.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: white;"><i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Lacy stays, my Dear</span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">, the Queen-crone<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">droned, the… <i>Here, let me help…</i><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">followed by a jerk that
winded Snow White,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">the stays too tight,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">her knees gave way and she
fell,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">knocking her scrub brush and
bucket against the door<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">just closing.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">The dwarfs returned, saw her there <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">blue-faced, and with a swift
knife cut the stays,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">her first breath like a
bellows.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: white;"><i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">That was close, </span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">they
said.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: white;"><i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">That</span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> was <i>close</i>, she answered.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;"> *<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">In her garden,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">the Queen looked down the
well, and called,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">Little fish, little fish, <o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">here is my wish, that you should praise<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">my beauty above all others, raise<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: white;"><i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">it like a star, shiny in a golden dish.</span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">The fish swam first in
circles, then in figure-eights,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">and spoke,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">Snow White lives, beyond the seven hills<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">she breathes; she’s fourteen, her long smooth legs
unmatched<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">by any plot you’ve hatched.<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">The
Queen set off, this time with a comb<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">tipped in toxic dip, and
offered it to the girl, who knew<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">the risks, but found chores <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">dull, and fancied something
new.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: white;"><i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">So pretty, and for you</span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">, the Queen-crone urged.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">Through her raven locks she
pulled the ivory comb,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">and poison seeped, burning
into her scalp,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">and stopped her heart. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">… Just in time the dwarfs,
shaking<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">and shaking to make her
breathe,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">and when the comb fell out,
she did.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: white;"><i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">That was close, </span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">they
said,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">and Snow White nodded.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;"> *<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">The
Queen demanded of the fish<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">her little wish.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">The
fish went deep, and surfacing again<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">along the silvered plane,
said,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">She lives. Her raven hair, her tiny rosebud mouth<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">are nothing if not true: south<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">of here, over seven hills, she whose beauty so<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">beguiles − stumpy hand or no…<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;"> *<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">Tap-tap, tap-tap, and Snow
White,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">bored, shared the apple with
the Queen,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">the Queen’s half sweet as
autumn, Snow White’s <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">blackened with the old
maid-servant’s art.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">And
she could not be saved, and died.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;"> *<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">The
dwarfs took her body <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">and washed it with water and
wine,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">dressed her in clean
clothes, and wrapped<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">her stumpy hand in new red
silk.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">From
quartz in their mountain they cut<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">a coffin Snow White’s
length, because they could not<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">bring themselves to sink her
raven hair,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">her tiny rosebud mouth,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">her long smooth shiny legs,
into dark and cold.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">Into the glassy quartz they
cut her name, <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">and that she was a king’s
daughter, wronged.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">They carried it to the top
of the mountain,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">and each kept vigil, year
after year, yet she<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">remained as she was in life,
her rosebud mouth, her hair<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">black as a raven’s eye.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;"> *<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">In her garden,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">the Queen looked down the
well, and called,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">Little fish, little fish, <o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">here is my wish, that you should praise<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">my beauty above all others, raise<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: white;"><i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">it like a star, shiny in a golden dish.</span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">And the fish went round,
went round,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">went round, <i>I am just a little fish, <o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">it said, <i>but praise<o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">your beauty above all others, raise<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: white;"><i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">it like a star, shiny in a golden dish</span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">…<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;"> *<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">Twelve
huntsmen, a king’s son<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">and others of the court,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">took the forest path leading
by the dell.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">(They had been cats: riding
out, deep in the woods,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">the last they remembered was
a scruffy crow passing over,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">and they were changed, their
jewelled cloak clasps,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">their white horses, gone. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">And
just like that, they were cats, the king’s son<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">an old grey tom with one eye
cut shut,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">and the others yowling
behind, looking for cat words<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">to ask what had happened.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">They dragged a cauldron with
them,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">and a cow, and now and then<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">they killed the cow<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">and boiled the best bits in
the cauldron, and the next day<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">the cow stood there, good as
new;<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">at least they never worried
for their stew.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">When
the old maid-servant died, a twisting<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">burn of acid in her bed, her
spells went too,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">and the bag of cats <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">again become twelve
huntsmen, their silver clasps<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">and horses restored.)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">When
they discovered the hut<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">the door was off, and the
roof had fallen in,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">and they rode on, up the
hill trail<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">to the mountain,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">and found Snow White, pretty
in her pretty coffin,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">under vines and old leaves.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">The bones of the last dwarf
lay nearby.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">The king’s son looked
through the crystal coffin,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">and said, <i>This is a king’s daughter, wronged.<o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">Remove her to our court.<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">They
carried her downhill, heavy<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">in her crystal coffin, but
the footing was wet, <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">and the huntsmen slipped,
and when the coffin dropped, <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">in Snow White’s throat the
plug of apple<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">popped loose,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">and she breathed, and lived.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;"> *<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">In the Queen’s garden, in
the well,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">the old fish went deep, and
stayed.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;"> *<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">Snow White married the
king’s son,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">and to her wedding she
invited nobles of those kingdoms,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">except her father, who was
long dead.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">The old Queen, though, now
reigning,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">came with her retinue – what
wasn’t gold<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">was silver − and passed
among them<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">not recognising Snow White,
except the raven hair,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">the rosebud mouth<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">somehow so familiar…<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">Snow
White<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">ordered iron shoes, stoked
and stoked red as a witch’s eye,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">to be clamped around the old
Queen’s feet,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="color: white;">and the old Queen danced and
danced,</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">and died, and Snow White,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">turning her cold blue eyes
along that company,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">rose, and left the hall.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i><br /></i></span>estillpollockpoetryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10088164671926143530noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8712212324234477265.post-63158452034073883272016-10-01T07:55:00.000+01:002016-10-01T07:55:18.133+01:00Relic Environments Trilogy: Book III, Part 2.iv<span style="color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>from</i> Book III, Part 2, <i>Animus</i></span><br />
<span style="color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i><br /></i></span>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;">II. The Child-Eaters</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">ii. <i>Hansel and Gretel</i> <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">It
was a time of famine.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">Even
when the weather favoured<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">kitchen crops − potato sets
and runner beans −<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">the pickings were lean, but
now<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">bellies bloated, guts
pinched and heaved with hunger…<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">the summer wet, the sun all
day <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: -33.35pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">curtained
in low cloud no winds could shift, <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">their plantings rotted in
cold clay.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">The
Father set off into the woods, each day<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">a little firewood cut, a few
cords more<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">to trade for grain<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">his wife milled for sour
bread.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">The
Father set off into the woods, at first close by<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">their poor hut, and the boy
Hansel<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">could hear the steady <i>chop chop chop<o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">of his Father’s axe, but
with each day passing<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">the sound grew fainter,
until his sister Gretel said,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">Hansel, our Father goes deeper in the
woods<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">each day, and now<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: white;"><i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">the</span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> chop chop chop <i>so faint<o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: -15.35pt;">
<span style="color: white;"><i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">I cannot tell it from the calling birds.</span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">One
night − a wishbone night stuck<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">between yesterday and
tomorrow − the woodcutter’s wife<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: -24.35pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">whispered
to her husband, <i>The food is nearly finished;
what wood<o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">you find, there’s little grain to trade for.<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">She
looked towards the little loft<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">where the Father’s children
lay: <i>It’s us or them, and better <o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: white;"><i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">we alone than four graves one by one.</span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">The Father dragged his rough
hands across his face,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">and sobbed until he’d rubbed
<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">the tears and snot into his
beard. He sobbed<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">until he stopped, closed his
fingers, stretched<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">and popped his
finger-joints:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">he knew she had a point.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">In
the loft, Hansel and Gretel heard, knowing<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">their Stepmother as good as
her word<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">would see them off, arrange
an accident or worse,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">abandon them to beasts.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">Gretel whimpered, <i>We’re lost. I’m too weak to run.</i><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">But
Hansel took his little sister’s hand<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">and kissed it, saying, <i>I have plan,<o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">and climbing from the loft,
stopped just once,</span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">his rumbling belly startling<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">the Stepmother half-awake;
her snoring breaking<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">to a snort, she turned over
to the wall, and farted.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">And Hansel slipped by, and
out the door,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">gathering small stones as
white and bright<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">as stars he knew must still
be somewhere<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">through the cloud.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">Back in the loft, they
whispered, <i>Goodnight.<o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">In the dark<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">Gretel reached for his hand
and held it tight.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;"> *<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">There
was another plan…<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">The Stepmother, the next
morning, <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">called, <i>Lazybones wake up. It’s deeper woods today,<o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">and we’ll all be needed<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: white;"><i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">if your Father’s hunch is right for easy cords.</span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">Through the forest trail,
just out of sight of home,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">Hansel stopped and turned,
and said,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">Father, I think I can just see my little
cat<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: white;"><i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">sitting on the roof</span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">,
and as he spoke, and walked<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">and stopped again and
turned,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">a little stone, bright as a
bird’s egg<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">rolled to the ground. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">The Stepmother said to the
Father: <i>Tell him</i>,<i> it’s no cat. <o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">It’s chimney shadows on the roof; we ate his cat long
since.<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">They walked and walked, a
little trail of white stones<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">winking in the grass behind
them,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">until they came to a depth
of forest<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">so dark it could be night,
and nearly was by then…<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">The Stepmother said, <i>We’ll be back. Deeper in these woods <o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">the cuts are sweet with resin<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">and there to be had by those who’d walk that farther in. Stay
put.<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: white;"><i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">There are beasts about: take two sticks and make a fire.</span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">But
they did not return, and the children shared<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">their little bread, through
the night<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">picking their way home,
stone by shiny stone.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 72.0pt; text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">*<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">The Father opened the door,
jumped back.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: white;"><i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Father,</span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">
Hansel said, <i>we might be ghosts, you’ve
gone so white</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">That
night, they heard again<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">the drip-drop drip-drop of
the Stepmother<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">wheedling, wheedling, until
they heard too,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">their Father’s knuckles pop.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">The next day, <i>Lazybones, another journey,</i><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">and down the path they went,
but Hansel<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">was cold with worry. Last
night<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">he’d tried the door, but it
was locked − the Stepmother<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">whispering to the Father, <i>I don’t know what he did,<o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: white;"><i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">but it won’t happen twice: I don’t trust that kid </span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">−<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">and now what little bread he
had<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">he pinched apart and
dropped, each<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">stop he made to turn to see
his home.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">…Father, I think I see a little pigeon<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">there, just there around the eaves…<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">The Stepmother said,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">Tell him, it’s chimney shadows<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">playing tricks. And besides, that pigeon never touched
the sides.<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">This time, deeper still, and
darker than the dark before, <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">and they, alone<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: -5.7pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">walked
a night and day, a night and day and no way home,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">knowing then each pinch of
bread<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">was tastier to birds than
stones.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">And
after three days and nights<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">Gretel fainted, and everything
Hansel saw<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">swam before in twos and
threes, and hunger<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">whined in his ears, and
then, suddenly, <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">in a tree, a beautiful white
bird appeared,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">flitting branch to branch,
so that Hansel understood<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">they were to follow.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">He
pulled Gretel to her feet, and stumbled<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">through; three birds he saw,
but thought<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">the middle one would do. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 72.0pt; text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">*<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">The
place they came to was built of bread, cake and sugar.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: white;"><i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Bread… Cake... Sugar</span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">…<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">Gretel
licked a sugar pane, and Hansel<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">scoffed a slate of cake,
then from within<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">from what on closer look<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">they took to be a cottage,
came a little voice,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">Nibble, nibble, be my guest.<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: white;"><i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">When you’re done, step in and rest.</span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">The children answered, <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">We’re not here. We think we died. Our plan <o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">went wrong, and now it’s heaven drenched in marzipan.<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">Through the door she came on
crutches, her red eyes <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">blinking in the daylight.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: -26.95pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: -26.95pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">The
children fell back, against the sugared-almond shutters.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: white;"><i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Don’t be afraid of </span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">me.
<i>I’m just an old woman<o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">who likes a little company for tea.<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">Hansel
followed in, and Gretel followed him.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">When
the door was closed<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">and locked,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">the crone came to Hansel,
pinched his cheek, and said,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: white;"><i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">You’ll do</span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">,
and dragged him through<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">and pushed him in a shed.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">Gretel tugged the door and
windows,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">but no escape, and to make
the bad dream stop,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">hurled a pan. The old woman
halted it midair, charmed it <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">bird-like, snatched<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">and ate it, feathers and
all.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">Gretel
screamed, <i>Hansel, she’s a witch.</i><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: white;"><i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">My dear, </span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">said
the witch, <i>that’s so. I am as you say,
but<o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">we all have our parts to play: you too.<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">Your brother’s rangy. I prefer a plumper meal −<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">chop some veg.<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">Weeks went by, and Gretel
cooked and cooked,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">and the witch took pot after
pot of stew <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">to Hansel.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: white;"><i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Give me your hand</span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">, she said, and he shoved <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">a chicken bone through a
crack in the door.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">She pinched and thought, <i>This one’s slow.<o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: white;"><i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">I’ll be starved before he fattens.</span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">I’ll take them both and call it done, and hope<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">the girl’s not as chewy as she looks. Maybe this time<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: white;"><i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">only lungs and liver…</span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="color: white;">But
Gretel, sneaking soup and chicken</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">all those weeks, was
stronger now, and saw<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">the way the witch poked the
air and tapped the floor <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">before her with her
crutches, and knew <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">the witch’s red, cross-eyes
were weak.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">The witch instructed, <i>Make a pastry. Get the oven warm,</i><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">and mused, <i>for a pie dish big enough for two.</i><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">Climb in, human child, and see what heat there is, <o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">was what Gretel<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">later said was said. Gretel,
now a little podgy, posed<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">slyly at the oven door: <i>I’ll never fit in </i>there<i>.<o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">The witch, squinting towards
the heated hole,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">climbed in herself, and
said, <i>See, any fool could do it.<o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">Gretel slammed the oven
door,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">threw on more logs, and
smelt the burning hair,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">and listened to the squeals,
as fats from the flesh<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">bubbled and squeaked, and
could be any flesh<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">Gretel thought,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">for a passing moment<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">considering her next square
meal…<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">She
and Hansel found a chest of jewels, pearls<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">and such they thought useful<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">and could carry in their
pockets.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">They walked through the
wood, to the edge<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">of a lake, and noticed a
wedge of ducks in flight.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">Hansel remembered the time
of year,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">and the direction ducks took<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">in that season, and
remembered them<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">sailing over their little
cottage.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">The children headed south,
and home.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;"> *<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: white;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Their Father said, </span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">I would never leave you really</i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">,</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">but they knew he had, and
watched him close<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">from then on.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">The
Stepmother died the very day<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">she’d led them out a second
time to the forest.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">She walked so long, and grew
so hungry<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">she ate black berries from a
bush, greenish-black<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">they were, that killed her
dead, their Father<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">vague about what happened
after that...<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">They
took the jewels <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">and shared them out, and
things were better for awhile,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">but jewels are not bread,
when there is no bread, <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">nor grain to mill,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">when there is no grain, even
with only<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">three mouths to feed.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">It
was a time of famine.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
estillpollockpoetryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10088164671926143530noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8712212324234477265.post-79792564723070596402016-10-01T07:48:00.002+01:002016-10-01T07:48:54.230+01:00Relic Environments Trilogy: Book III, Part 2.iii<span style="color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>from</i> Book III, Part 2, <i>Animus</i></span><br />
<span style="color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: large;">II. The Child-Eaters</span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: white;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">i.
<i>Red Riding-Hood</i></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">The
herds are safe in southern pastures.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">In
these mountains, cold<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: -5.7pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">grips
the valleys early. No footprints, except the goatherd’s, <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">or hieroglyph bird tracks<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">on grass<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">flattened under snow.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">A few dwellings among the
rocks, chimney smoke<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">mimicking stony roots of
pine: far off, wolves, howling.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">The sound is hunger, huge,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">something pitiful, remote,
but we know too,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">without remorse, the mineral
eye<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">caught in light from cottage
windows.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">At
this time of year, any man living<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">keeps to the path, and then<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">only with a long blade slid
down the boot, its edge<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">long enough, thick enough,
to dig past wolf ribs <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">to the heart.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">But each wolf is a man’s
weight, heavy −<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">red-yellow eyes stalking
famine in these mountains.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">Three to find him, five to
kill him, what chance <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">a child…<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">In the village, a bride,
snuggled under wool and muslin,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">her first night married: her
husband − <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">a farmer, a little slow<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">but in these hills a catch −
shifts his weight foot to foot, <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">stares at the floor.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: -15.35pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">He
sees her spread of mane, her large black eyes, and wonders<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">what to do, what to do, then
says, <i>I need to pee</i><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">and steps towards the door.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: white;"><i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">No, here, </span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">she
says, looking to the corner pot, but he<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">too shy this first night<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">steps out into the dark.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">For seven days they search,
her father, her brothers,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">in the hills, through scabby
pines, in claptrap barns<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">but nothing, no-one,
nowhere.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">She set aside her wedding
dress, and the months passed;<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">in time, she wed again −<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">not to one who wanders out
in wolf country, but true<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">to ready wool, black eyes
and the mane:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">in the cold room, from the
corner pot<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">the pong of steamy leek.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;"> *<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">… Their daughter herded,
leapt crags, <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">knew the song the blade
makes on oil stone.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: -34.05pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">Prettier
than most, no scars, her Grandmother’s precious-precious, <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">she knew the way <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">to hers and back, an arrow’s
flight,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">a cloth-yard of arrow, a
distance of wool and muslin<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">her Mother let her fly.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">And she, twelve, thirteen
perhaps −<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">who could know, here beyond
Christian registers, <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">her boyish body a thinning
membrane of first blood,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">a shift of swelling hips and
breasts <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">fearless through that
landscape.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">Her
Mother let her fly…<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">My lovely, the boy from the village<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: -26.95pt;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">came to set your Grandma’s hearth this
morning, but says she’s poorly.<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">Take these oatcakes and nettle wine, and keep her
company.<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">The wind out’s hard; take your shawl, the red one I
mended.<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">Remember your knife.<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">Her Grandmother’s hut, squat
squalid above a byre<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">she kept for milking-goats,
swayed in the north wind,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">the ladder to it creaking in
the north wind,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">the creaking she took as
north wind,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">not climbing:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">whoever heard of a wolf<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">climbing ladders, slimy goat
guts still stuck in his teeth?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">But
then, who knows what wolves know<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">in their long language,
ridge to long ridge<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">their howling connects,
above the desolate huts?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">The Grandmother heard the
latch −<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">Precious-precious, is that you?<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">… then dark against the
doorframe<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: -33.35pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">she
knew the shape, heavy as a man stood black against the light,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">and the last thing<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">she saw, her own scrawny
belly<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">hanging from the wolf’s
mouth, her last scream<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">gone crunch,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">a popping hearth coal
reflected in her eyes.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;"> *<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">The
girl took the path<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">across the high ridge, the
path she knew<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">wolves took, but this time
of year,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">the rocks shot through with
alpines, with sedum<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">yellow as a wolf’s eye, with
dainty reds<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">stretching towards the weak
light,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">she plucked them for a
poesy, set brightly<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">about the cakes and wine
gourd.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">Her Grandmother’s
favourites: pretty alpines, cakes<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">and nettle wine… her
Grandmother, whose teeth<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">and scalp (too tough to
chew) were in a stew<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">Wolf
stirred −<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">this standing-up,
sitting-down<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">Wolf, this Wolf who whistled
by the fire, <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">who knew as well as you, <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">or me, that Grandma’s
precious-precious<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">must be young, plump, and
worth a try, away<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">from north winds blowing
through the byre.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">He stretched back on the
bed, picked his lice,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">and waited.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">The path she took, by chance
or cunning, brought her<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">from the south, downwind.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">She came to the byre, and
saw a piece of milking-goat,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">another, and another, the
north wind creaking<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">through stale straw, the
ladder and the hut.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">She
turned, looking to the wood of scabby pine<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">dusted red-yellow, and
breathed<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">once, and once again, and
steadied on the ladder.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">She touched the latch; it
gave.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">Dark inside, the fire gone
down,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">She stepped into the room…<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">Prcis prscis com to ths bd<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">ey hv to shw yu smthng prcis<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">She
stepped a step.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">Prcis prscis tk offyr clths<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: white;"><i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">cm</span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">In that new dark, dropping
her shawl, her red shawl <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">mended by her Mother, her
shift<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">and stockings, her clogs
kicked off<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">by the dead fire, she
reached deep into the basket <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">of pretty flowers − bright
alpines red and yellow −<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">and climbed into the bed.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: white;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><br clear="all" style="page-break-before: always;" />
</span>
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">Across
her belly, his bristle of rough coat<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">shivered… the cold eye, the
twitching ear<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">and nostril:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">I knwo you.<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">The
scent of stew<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: -6.35pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">still
faint in the room, on his breath, she said<i>,
And I know you.<o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">Wolf looked down: under wool
and muslin,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">she took in her hand
Wolf-cock, Wolf-balls, and said,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">Long enough, thick enough,<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: white;"><i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">larger than a lamb’s head, these are for you,</span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> and<i> </i>raised<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">the dripping dough to let
him see, and pulling the knife<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">still further, filleted the
howl <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">hissing for air in Wolf’s
throat.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">She
stood by the bed, blood<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">smeared across her legs and
belly, her face. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">In
the cold room, above the bed, damp <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">fogged the dark.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: -15.35pt; mso-outline-level: 1;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">She walked to the hearth, and made a fire.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: -15.35pt; mso-outline-level: 1;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
estillpollockpoetryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10088164671926143530noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8712212324234477265.post-48233395178110522232016-09-30T15:24:00.000+01:002016-09-30T15:24:13.264+01:00Relic Environments Trilogy: Book III, Part 2.ii<span style="color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>from </i>Book III, Part 2, <i>Animus</i></span><br />
<span style="color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I.Tales of Wood and Iron</span><br />
<span style="color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i><br /></i></span>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">ii. <i>Rapunzel<o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><i><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">The
house was built of whole trees<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">notched into a daub and
wattle frame,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">eaves thatched, a hearth of
creek stone<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">dressed to keep a fire.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">Latin
the old tribe left<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">remained long after their
departure<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">south across the mountains,
settled now<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">to place names and the
skills of making walls<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">and a straight road deep
into the forest. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">A
thousand years passing − herbs<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">once cultivated for a cure<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">grew wild beyond the old
enclosures.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">Near
a tumbled brick course he gathered<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">chervil, rocket, the
clove-scented pinks<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">craved by his wife these
many months,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">heavy and heavier still and
soon the child.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">Beyond
the rubble boundary<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">thick with tansy and
succulent rapunzel,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">he sensed the old woman
suddenly beside him,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">knew her names, Artificer, Blood-Bake,
Time Wheel, <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">no warning but her smell<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">and he felt his choices
fade.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">She wore a beaded cap stuck
with feathers,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">a cloak the colour of
shadows.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">She said that place was hers
forever,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">from the world’s dark heart<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">to the blind blink of
heaven.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">For
his trespass, one life was forfeit.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">She
fixed him with a sign.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">He
told her all.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">When he returned home he
kept quiet,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">but his wife saw through
him, was afraid,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">and wished he had not come
back, there<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">to the house where fear was
the first-born.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">In
the upstairs room a window<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">framed with coppice hazel, a
film<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">of pig’s bladder stretched
over – no other light<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">but candles by the
rope-slung bed<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">and his wife exhausted with
the birth.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">Still
blood-soak on the straw<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">when a filthy wind roared
through the cracks,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">blew the window from its
leather hinges.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">The man leaned out into the
night,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">shouldered back the gale<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">but could not stop the gaps
nor the wind’s hands,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">shouting to his wife <i>the child the child.</i><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">When
she looked where the babe had been<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">she saw a dead cat tucked
stiff as toenails.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">The
wind dropped<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">and the man heard the sound <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">that rose in his wife’s
throat, and the room<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">was filled with the sound,
and his mind,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">and his heart was filled.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;"> *<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">Time
passed without destination <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">and the child grew, secret
in the stone surroundings<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">far from festivals or trade.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">The old woman called her
Herb Child, Tender Leaf,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">a hundred pet names of taste
and scent.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">Days
were whispers, and the girl’s hips<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">widened womanly, between her
legs<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">a neat tuck of silky muff.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">The
old woman felt the blood banging<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">and the weather turn − dragged
the girl<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">naked, deeper still into the
forest<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">to a great oak, old before
the old tribe left,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">now a hollow rising high as
a cock’s crow.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">Up,
up they climbed, to a high room<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">through a hole of rotted branch,
a chamber<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">the old woman had prepared
as a hatred<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">and a jealousy are prepared.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">In
the room was a seat of bound bark<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">and a wheel to sit at
spinning.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">Her
hair was long and grew<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">like a new sun, and she spun
slippers<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">and a gown from her own
hair, head to toe.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;"> *<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">Days
are paltry things<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">where divine light blanks
the human scale.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">Day
after day, down the deer path<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">the old woman came steady as
bread,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">remorseless as salt, with no
word<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">but of climbing and hauling.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">One day, looking up to the
heavy height,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">she called, <i>Iron-Hair, Sable-Soft, oblige</i>:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">from the treetop, a ladder
of bright ropes tumbled<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">to the ground.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">The
old woman<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">stepped into the mane of
braids, uplifted…<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">Beyond
a twist of briars, a young lord<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">rested in a clearing’s
shade, the crake voice<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">drifting through to find him
−<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">Iron-Hair
Sable-Soft oblige<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">Watching
the old woman <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">raised high through
branches,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">watched her leave −<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">he calls the name of mink
and metal, <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">rises into the leafy
canopy, <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">eyes meeting eyes soft as a
dressed pelt,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">a figure cat-slinky, languid
as the moon.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;"> *<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">If
there was time it passed, root-gnarl time.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">The old woman came, stood
calling,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: white;"><i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Flame-Heart</span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">,<i> oblige</i>, then caught the man-scent,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">buckskin sweat and the
spilled seed,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">drew the knife ready.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">She
entered like a shadow, wild look<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">this way and that way… <i>where where…<o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">The girl touched her belly’s
own sweet swell,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">heard the whispered, <i>One life is forfeit,<o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">and with one quick cut<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">the world fell free.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">Even then his voice below,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">the old woman turning to it,
winding the hacked hair<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">on a snag, let it tumble,
felt the weight of it,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">felt the man’s weight
heaved.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">She
lunged as the face appeared, the blade<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">slicing as she fell, his
eyes in blood,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">still sight enough to see
the hagheap<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">crumple past.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">On
the ladder of her own hair<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">the girl climbed down into
the light,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">gathered comfrey and witch
hazel<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">and with the loosed braids<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">bound them in a poultice to
the prince’s wounds.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">The
old woman’s corpse lay where it fell.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">With
a yank on the chin hair<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">the girl stuffed an acorn
down its throat.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">South
beyond the mountains <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">she gave birth in the
prince’s lands,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">and there were many years
and many children<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">and in time the prince
became king.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">Across
his eyes the knife cut scarred<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">crooked as a deer path.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">Each night she walked it in
her dreams,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">to the wood’s great sink of
rotted stump<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">where she stood, anchored in
oak shade<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">deeper than the world’s dark
heart, older<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="color: white;">than the cold, blind blink
of heaven.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
estillpollockpoetryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10088164671926143530noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8712212324234477265.post-18345270249315171812016-09-30T15:20:00.000+01:002016-09-30T15:25:13.914+01:00Relic Environments Trilogy: Book III, Part 2.i<span style="color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>from </i>Book III, Part 2, <i>Animus</i></span><br />
<span style="color: white;"><span style="color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i><br /></i></span>
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;">I. Tales of Wood and Iron<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">i. <i>The Three Feathers</i><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">Night and day, for all God’s
children, the same star<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">dawn to dreaming, a little
breath between<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">light’s constancy <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">and the cold dark.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<tt><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">In those times, the king our father,<o:p></o:p></span></span></tt></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<tt><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">old and weak, set a task<o:p></o:p></span></span></tt></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<tt><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">deciding the kingdom − a textile woven of
time itself<o:p></o:p></span></span></tt></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<tt><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">to be found and returned to this throne.<o:p></o:p></span></span></tt></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<tt><i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">…Dumbkin<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></tt></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<tt><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">my brothers’ name for me<i> − Dumbkin.</i><o:p></o:p></span></span></tt></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<tt><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">And they, older, quick as their hawks, their
friends<o:p></o:p></span></span></tt></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: -42.35pt;">
<tt><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">with kingdoms of
their own, who could blame them, blame anyone<o:p></o:p></span></span></tt></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<tt><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">for thinking the crown least fit<o:p></o:p></span></span></tt></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<tt><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">for the slow boy<o:p></o:p></span></span></tt></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<tt><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">hanging back.<o:p></o:p></span></span></tt></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<tt><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">But our father, long a leveller, took us to
the balcony, saying,<o:p></o:p></span></span></tt></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">Here, in the sustenance of your becoming,<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">to this end these feathers fly,<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">and one by one three
feathers<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">went, and my brothers too,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">quick as their hawks,
followed east and west,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">but the last feather<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">sank slowly to wild thorn
just beyond the castle walls.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">My
brothers laughing, <i>Such a journey,
Dumbkin.<o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">I
climbed down the prickly crag<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: -15.35pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">and
found the feather fallen by a trapdoor in the rock, a door<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">bound with nettle string.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="color: white;">Opening it, I jumped down
into the dark,</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">landing <i>clump</i> in heavy dust, and then<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">could see the other door,
set deeper in the rock, and to my <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: white;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 8.0pt; line-height: 115%;">KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">a
lady-voice −<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">‘Who
calls on Prune-Feet<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">Fetching Time<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">Who stirs the syrup − no
meat <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">Too green, no red heart so
sublime<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">Keeps us from our visitor’<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">With a touch the door drew
back, and there a toad,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">a pond slime bag of warts <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">big as grain sacks stuffed
for winter, asked<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">my business, and hearing
this, she sent<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">a clutch of hoppers, little
croakers with mushy heaves<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">pushing a box into the
light,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">and opening it she sang,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">‘Who
calls on Prune-Feet<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">Fetching Time<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">This thready thread, this
weave complete<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">I give you for the asking,
sublime<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">Past mortal skills’<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">I
looked, to see a carpet no human ever saw<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">and thanked the lady-green<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">and took it, climbing as I’d
come.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">The
others meanwhile, travelling not a mile<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: -15.35pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">in
their directions, found wenches at their work, demanding<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">the poor girls’ coarse cloth
skirts as trade<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">to leave them be, <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">my brothers never thinking
who could know<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">a weft of time from
ravelling jute.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">Except
the king<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">who ruled, <i>For this design and its return, against<o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: white;"><i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">these roughs of hemp-weave, it’s fair the youngest shall
inherit.</span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">My brothers spewed, they
retched,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">they clapped their heads
until the bones shot blood.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">They wailed, <i>Not Dumbkin, no, not this dolt<o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">who picks his nose for snacks, Dumbkin Dumbkin no.<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">And the king our father
thought,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">and thought, and knew his
first-born twins<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">but hoped for better,
saying, <i>A new trial then,<o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">this for a ring rounded with eternity<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">and this trial is the last.<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;"> *<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">The feathers flew, one east,
one west,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">my brothers too, and I, and
mine, again a little way<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">to prise the door into the
rock, and knock.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">‘Who
calls on Prune-Feet<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">Fetching Time<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">A rounding sun and moon, a
fit so neat<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">And pattern so sublime<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">It sets along a path of
gold’<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">And
brought a ring so perfect the air around it shown.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">And my brothers, loafing
where their feathers fell,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">each took a wheel rim from a
cart, old iron hoops<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">they beat to clanking
bangles<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">large as leg-iron stays<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">only a dumbkin might think<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">true to trial…<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">The
king compared, and said, <i>The boy’s is
best<o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">and no mistake, here it ends, it’s his<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">this kingdom, each has had his chance and choice.<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">My brothers spat, they shat
and shied,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">their hair they jerked in
bloody clumps, <i>No<o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">not Dumbkin, this shit streak with a warty nose<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: white;"><i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">not him not </span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">him.<i> <o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">The king our father, taking
three feathers, <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">shouted, <i>This I proclaim, and I swear now the last<o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">I’ll live to see – a woman<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">of such beauty the world itself must stop<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">and turn again in wonder – who brings her here, inherits.<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">East,
west, again the door, and through.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">‘Who
calls on Prune-Feet<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">Fetching Time<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">To fashion what never was,
beat<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">Toady
froth into sublime<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">And subtle form, human, and
for you’<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">And hoppers came, her little
ones, and brought a root <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">scooped clean and cinched to
six sleek mice,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">and then I saw a little toad
climb in,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">and instantly<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">instead of root and mice six
horses stood,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">and coach, and within the
coach<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">a lady looking back at me<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">and of such beauty the world
turned back.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">I kissed her mouth, and
lady-green’s, and thanked her<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">one last time.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;"> *<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">My brothers stood before the
throne, <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">two peasant girls in tow,
and said, <i>Dumbkin’s gone</i>,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">he’ll not return, what woman<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">would settle for runty eyes and breath like yellow runs −<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">choose one of us, when you’re dead we’ll share alike, <o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">these girls are plain, but game − for us they’ll do.<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">Before
the king our father answered<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">the coach appeared, and with
it<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: -41.15pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">the
world turning back, a thready thread, <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: -41.15pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">a
rounding sun and moon<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">and me, Dumbkin.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">My
brothers leapt through old iron hoops<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: -12.8pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">and
disappeared, the peasant girls screamed and ran, the king <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">my father standing, said, <i>An end, and now,<o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">these trials too hard that take my sons<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">and tell heavily against my own weak will.<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">…Dumbkin<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">my brothers’ name for me,<i> Dumbkin.<o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">I who rule, and know time’s
weave,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">and the way of climbing
down, and back,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">as night and day, for all
God’s children, the same star<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">dawn to dreaming, a little
breath between<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">light’s constancy <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: white;">and the cold dark.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i><br /></i></span>estillpollockpoetryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10088164671926143530noreply@blogger.com0