The Witch Has Told You a Story
BY AVA LEAVELL HAYMON
You are food.
You are here for me
to eat. Fatten up,
and I will like you better.
Your brother will be first,
you must wait your turn.
Feed him yourself, you will
learn to do it. You will take him
eggs with yellow sauce, muffins
torn apart and leaking butter, fried meats
late in the morning, and always sweets
in a sticky parade from the kitchen.
His vigilance, an ice pick of hunger
pricking his insides, will melt
in the unctuous cream fillings.
He will forget. He will thank you
for it. His little finger stuck every day
through cracks in the bars
will grow sleek and round,
his hollow face swell
like the moon. He will stop dreaming
about fear in the woods without food.
He will lean toward the maw
of the oven as it opens
every afternoon, sighing
better and better smells.
Notes:
This poem originally appeared in “Poetry Not Written for Children that Children Might Nevertheless Enjoy,” by Lemony Snicket.
This poem originally appeared in “Poetry Not Written for Children that Children Might Nevertheless Enjoy,” by Lemony Snicket.
“The Witch Has Told You a Story” is reprinted by permission of Lousiana State University Press.
Source: Poetry (September 2013)