FAIRY TALES in the time of COVID poems (let me know if you don’t see yours!)
From softest grass to tough concrete
The Big Bad Wolf did fall;
In front of him were empty streets
And not a pig at all.
No houses made of sticks and rocks
Or bits of straw and twine,
But block, and block, and block, and block
Of structural sublime.
“No breath of mine could knock these down!
And where are all the pigs?” he cried.
Distressed by the lack of meals in town
And the lack of anyone outside.
But wait!
A newspaper
Rolling down the street.
He picked it up for answers
And found them printed neat:
Pandemic!
Try baking!
The toilet paper’s gone!
“So all the pigs must be inside
In structures just as strong!”
And with this thought he almost wept
He hadn’t eaten in days.
A tragedy grotesque- except!
Look! There! Upon that page!
A recipe for no-knead bread
To suit the general baking craze!
Off he took, as fast as he could
To grab the last bag of flour from the grocery
(Wearing a mask, just as one should).
With paper and the flour in hand
He learned to bake (This was just the start!)
Bread, meat pies with pork obtained through legal means
And dishes all baked from the heart.
Who would’ve thought that breaths
For blowing down houses and causing dread
Heated from inside the Big Bad Wolf’s mouth
Are also pretty good at baking bread!
-Livia Cohen
****
A walk in the woods used to be numb
But now I’m prepared for whatever will come
A note in my hand
This walk sure feels grand
Soon there’s a rustle, right behind me
A wolf has jumped out I can clearly see
Thrusting the note out I must stay still
The wolf reads the note and slinks off with no meal
I run to the house I hope is all right
There Grandma sat, happy to see me in sight
She smiled and spoke, “How was your day?”
“Nothing attacked you. Is that what you’ll say?”
Yes, I had gone out, with a merry tune to sing
And somewhere in the woods, a wolf reads, SOCIAL DISTANCING.
-Chelsea Li
****
Yawning I stretch out,
Expecting to find the usual bark of a tree underneath me.
Instead I find a carpet the color of trout.
Did I teleport out of the tree?
Looking around I saw to pairs of feet walking towards my curled tail.
“Aw aren’t you a poor thing? How did you end up here?”
I screeched and screamed as I was picked up by two hands of large scale.
The lady looked at me in surprise as I grinned at her
“Why, I’ll name you Cheshire! Like Alice in Wonderland!”
I jumped out of her arms, a complete blur
Making for the door, the lady screamed something about being banned
From going outside
I shrugged, humans make no sense
I jump, crawl and slide
Through the house, until I reach the door, and sprint to the fence
Then I was out
Streets were empty and quiet, nobody walked on the sidewalks.
When Alice has visited and told about her world it was nothing like this, this looked like a drought
Of people, I raced down blocks.
It was the same everywhere in every neighborhood and every shop.
Maybe they had an evil queen who forced them all to stay in prisons?
-Iza Wilson
***
Because of quarantine, Aladdin’s in a very bad mood.
Though the streets are empty, Aladdin can’t get food.
For the stay-at-home order hasn’t been lifted.
But after looking at the money that he has just sifted,
He thinks: “I’ve got nothing – nothing at all!”
Then suddenly he gasps! “I know who to call!”
He reaches in his pocket and pulls out a lamp.
He rubs it – and out comes Genie, the wishing champ!
“Alright, Aladdin, you got three wishes,” Genie says.
“Wanna plane? Wanna tiger? Wanna nice, new fez?”
“I wish,” Aladdin says, “that I wasn’t so poor!”
Genie grins. Coins start raining. Down falls more and more and more.
“I wish,” Aladdin says, “That with the money, I’d have food!”
The money’s gone. Now there’s food. Aladdin’s in a real good mood.
But there’s one more wish! One more wish!
Should he wish for a fish in a dish?
A brand new cap? A baseball bat?
A pineapple that is big and fat?
“I wish,” Aladdin says, “That quarantine is done!”
No more virus in the air – now it’s time for fun!
Aladdin runs to find Abu – he dashes ‘round the bends,
For after, when he finds Abu, he’ll go play with his friends!
-Will McGough
***
Bambi,
Oh Bambi a calm
Mellow
deer, a
Quick
little guy,
Ferocious
as a bull
Or
an ox if you wish,
Bambi,
oh Bambi
-Natalie E. Greear
***
The Evil Queen was staring
At her enhanced reflection
When suddenly, the portal spun
And she landed in the time of infection
She looked around her apartment
Which was not quite a castle
And her drab little bed
With no royal colors or tassels
In the bathroom she found
Cupboards stocked with roll
Upon roll of soft white paper
Which she promptly threw down a hole
Then a little device started buzzing
The Huntsmen wants to FaceTime, it said
Curious, she tapped the green button
And saw her servants head
After talking for a while
And marveling at this strange town
The Evil Queen turned on a black box
And in her bed, she lay down
A man appeared on the box
Startled, she sat right back up
And watched as he blathered on
About social distancing stuff
The Evil Queen snarled and thought,
“Well, I’d better go find Snow White”
She went out on the empty streets
And promptly got in a fight
“What are you doing out here?
We have to protect ourselves
From the COVID-19 virus!”
She bashed that guy against the shelves
When she’d gotten yelled at
For not wearing a mask
She stumbled back to the apartment
“Mirror, may I ask –“
But the mirror on the wall
Did not sparkle or speak
The Evil Queen to her dismay
Was stuck on Earth during the peak
-Meaghan MacGregor