Goodbye, Flicker: Poems

We Shall Now Hear What Happened

3 We Shall Now Hear What Happened Once for a moment once upon once there was there came one day a king a tailor princess the fisherman’s wife shepherdess a girl poor lazy clever long and golden hands like milk like silk stout and kind true and faithfulshe floated that she was dreamt of cross, clever daughter of wife to sister witch miller farmer tailor very fine indeed good at heart in tiny cottage the larder the edge the under the in-between and beyond sister, mule, nanny who loved her best nightingale swallow swineherd who envied her who sent her to that she became in the deep deep as she had a because she was to to take to draw to find left there into the deep deep over in the corner of far inside one day on an errand to the seashore the king’s to her nana’s for bread left there of as promise loss debt worry at once in the forest on the path pins needles trees around her sinister 4 stones roses egg slipper basket teapot farthings a bottle of wine found and kept it hid it stole it gave it away an old crone bitter a stepmother a sister mine three things three times seven ways four trolls twelve sticks and so and so then so then a bone, a secret the stone sang a mouse a mirror a charm gave her later counting praying and then across the hills riding horses carrying a box a shoe a cloud three wishes one kiss a last prayer one cage the song she’d sing all she thought she prayed begged and reasoned she saw she cut ...