Sunday, December 9, 2007

Poem #12: Foolish Princess

Foolish Princess

Behind designer frames is a woman
with a heavily make up face,
wearing an expensive dress and stilettos,
dismissing suitors with a wave of her hand.
Wanting someone rich and handsome,
refusing to settle for less.

Until the day a wrinkle appeared
and her beauty began to fade;
Her prince finally arrived
to take her hand in marriage.
At the wedding, she smiled at her groom.
Handsome as ever, he smiled back.

On their honeymoon, she noticed a change.
His teeth were suddenly long and sharp,
his smile became a nasty snarl,
and he sprouted horns and a tail.
In bed he pulled out his pitchfork, it was too late
for the princess. She married the devil.


As this semester winds down, this semester's portfolio continues to do the same. This poem is based on and inspired by a Puerto Rican folktale about a rich princess who rejects a lot of good men, and when she finally finds her special someone, he turns out to be the devil.

It sounded like something that I could turn into a poem and I did. In this piece, I really wanted to tell the story in a condensed form with some modern additions such as stilettos.

The original piece had this in two 10 line stanzas, but after revision I changed it to three six-line stanzas. (Yes, 6-6-6...though I didn't do it on purpose).

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