Francesca Leader
You Rumpelstiltskin You
You came,
Spindly fingers sporing,
Eyes boring,
Voice dewdropped with innuendo
That there was nothing
You liked more
Than a pretty whore
With a problem—
Pretty (and) helpless, pretty (and) nameless,
Your name a secret spell,
But mine a well—
Not whole, but a hole,
Possessable, bottom
Dropped out into
Hell.
You didn’t get
What you wanted,
But at least you got death—
The gold threads
Of my life strung me up
Meanwhile, crown, cage,
And child,
All strands, it turns out,
Of the same
Choking mesh
You spun for my flesh,
Knowing I’d miss you
And wear it, strangle slowly
In your gilded web,
Knowing it would
Drag me,
Eventually,
To your
Rotting
Bed.
_______________
Francesca Leader is a writer and artist originally from Western Montana. Her writing has appeared or is forthcoming in Five South, J Journal, Funicular, Wigleaf, Milk Candy Review, HAD, Stanchion, Literary Mama, Bending Genres, Door Is a Jar, and elsewhere. She was named the winner of the Southeast Review’s 2023 World’s Best Short-Short Story Contest, runner-up in CutBank’s 2020 Big Sky, Small Prose Contest, and has been nominated for various other awards. Her debut poetry chapbook, Like Wine or Like Pain, is now available from Bottlecap Press. (https://bottlecap.press/products/likewine) Connect with her on Instagram and Twitter at @moon.in.a.bucket/mooninabucket.)
Author’s Backstory: This poem was born from a line from a now discarded novel—one describing a male predator who stalks his female prey in an arachnid manner, from the corner of a metaphorical web. When I wrote it, I thought of the impossible choice so many girls must make between being consumed and destroying themselves. The speaker of the poem is aware of her entrapment, but this knowledge does not empower her to escape. As the speaker’s voice emerged, I quickly began to see her as a variation on the damsel in distress archetype so well represented in “Rumpelstiltskin.” Thus, a small retelling of that story took shape. I also heard the echo of Sylvia Plath’s “Daddy” while writing, and I think it left audible traces.
Editor’s Notes and/or Image Credit: As input to the Microsoft Designer: “Rumpelstiltskin grabs a woman snagged in his golden web,” clearly shows his lecherous intent.
