Thursday, April 10, 2008

A Rapunzel Poem

As I was cruising around the kidlitosphere yesterday, I came upon Alkelda’s post about Rapunzel at Saints and Spinners. It got me to thinking. I loved fairy tales when I was a child. Later, I loved doing an extensive unit on fairy tales when I was an elementary teacher. I had my students do a number of creative writing and art activities in class, including penning fairy tale poems. I was so inspired by their writing that I decided to begin work on my own collection of humorous fairy tale poems in 1994. That poetry manuscript, Excerpts from the Fairy Tale Files, has been sitting around for years. I revise some of the poems from time to time. I’ve never submitted the collection, though. Here is one of the poems from the collection:



NOT ALL PRINCES ARE CUT FROM THE SAME CLOTH
By Elaine Magliaro
(All rights reserved)

“Yoohoo, Rapunzel! It’s your prince
With a gallon of Supreme Crème Rinse…
A gift for you, my lady fair,
To take the tangles from your hair.
Oh hark! Rapunzel, listen, dear.
There’s something urgent you must hear.
I cannot climb your golden braid.
I’ve vertigo and I’m afraid
Of falling from the tower top—
At least a fifty-five-foot drop!
I just might break my royal bones.”



Rapunzel, in the tower, groans.
“Alas, I’ll live here all my life.
How will I marry? Be your wife?
You’re just a chicken! How did I
Get stuck with such a coward? WHY?
Sleeping Beauty’s prince is brave,
Prevails through hazards just to save
His dozing damsel in distress.
YOU give me crème rinse? I’m depressed.
Now show some gumption or I’ll be
A prisoner for eternity.
Unless you free me from this jail,
No one will write our fairy tale.”

at

8 comments:

  1. AnonymousApril 10, 2008 at 10:32 AM

    I love it!

    We read most of the fairy tales the other day ("we" being my daughters and I) from the gorgeous new Jan Pienkowski book we had picked up from the library. And this morning, I heard my four-year-old calling her toy dinosaur the "dino-step-mother." And that dino-step-mother tried to poison the other dinosaur, which her little sister was holding, with something (I can't remember what), adding that she'd be dying now. And my two-and-a-half year old said impetuously, "but I don't WANNA die."

    Oh my, I was laughing so hard in the next room. The poor stepmothers of the world, getting such a bad rap via fairy tales.

    Are you considering submitting your collection? I liked that poem.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Elaine MagliaroApril 10, 2008 at 10:55 AM

    Jules,

    That's a funny family story! I used to love listening in on my daughter when she talked to herself in her crib. Once, she clapped and congratulated herself for reciting the alphabet--and then asked an imaginary person if she/he would care to hear her do it again.

    I'm hoping to start submitting some of my manuscripts after I'm done with National Poetry Month at Wild Rose Reader. Posting every day--even when I'm not doing a poem-a-day as I did last year--consumes a good portion of my time. I'll also be finished with my children's literature course in early May--so I'll have lots of time to focus on my own writing. I'm glad you liked the Rapunzel poem.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Saints and SpinnersApril 10, 2008 at 11:14 AM

    Yeah, Rapunzel, you tell it like it is! Elaine, I'm honored that my post inspired you to share your Rapunzel poem with us.

    I get a kick out of listening to my daughter play, too. Right now, she's sitting on the potty and singing about the two sisters in the story of "Toads and Diamonds" as retold by Charlotte S. Huck.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Vivian MahoneyApril 10, 2008 at 11:19 AM

    Oh, Elaine. This is great. I hope you're working on finishing up your fairy tale poems. This one is wonderful!

    ReplyDelete
  5. jamaApril 10, 2008 at 1:26 PM

    I loved this poem, Elaine! So funny! It shows great foresight -- for now there are many men who are fussier about their hair than women are. Creme rinse, indeed!

    ReplyDelete
  6. gailApril 10, 2008 at 1:44 PM

    I know I should be concentrating on the poetry, but I'm working on an illo in which I'm drawing flowing hair and I'm fixated with that Rapunzel cover image! I'm off to see if I can find a larger view of it. Again I find inspiration here.

    Thanks!
    gail
    Who will be back when done seeing with tunnel vision.

    ReplyDelete
  7. KellyApril 10, 2008 at 7:06 PM

    Wonderful, Elaine! I love it :) Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  8. cheap hotelsJanuary 8, 2010 at 8:14 AM

    This is wonderful. I like it a lot.

    For me C stands for Cute - charismatic and cool!

    ReplyDelete