Fairy Tales

Twelve princesses dipping and twirling,

Holding the edges of large hoop skirts,

Unaware of me in the invisible cloak.

I don't dance, yet I wanted to while listening

To my mother's melodic yet tired voice

As she read the book a third time.

A few weeks later, she got me another,

About twelve dancing brothers and their stepmom

Who followed and saw how happy they were

When they were out dancing instead of home.

I didn't know then that they were the same,

Just a different setting and a different time

And Nikes and Converse rather than heels.

I had had books with kids that looked like me

But not everyone did, as I learned one day,

When I snuck the book to school in first grade

And my teacher read it to everyone in class.

I'm too old for Grimm and pictures of princesses

Though I still think of them and Rumpelstiltskin

And wonder how many others I haven't read

And how many fairy tales I have without knowing it.