The Fabled ***s
The Court of the Fabled ***
Step aside. You have arrived
At the court of the Fabled Whore. The fairy Harlot Queen; Cinderella’s step-sisters in suspenders; Maleficent in fishnets and stilettos on Miss Witch of the West. This is who we are. Sin and children’s stories. Lurid and disturbing. We do not belong to Aesop, Andersen, Grimm. No man could have written us. Prepare yourself for the Circus silks and the writhing of smoke. We will shatter innocence and paint it with your fear. How devastating; yes. Beneath the rainbow, this pixie realm is a red-light district. Alice’s Wonderland was a whorehouse. Why do you look so surprised?
Walk inside.
Our faces, you will find, are barely myth. We are battered and lacquered and painted. We are bleached, depilated, reshaped. But why do we disgust you, disconcert you? All childhood is false. Snow White’s beauty was a lie. Those apple cheeks achieved through powder and rouge. We work at it. We deal in acids, potions, spells, all to preserve our macabre beauty. We are the belles dames in this underworld of neon lights.
Now dance a Saraband with us. We will teach you how to dance, girl. We have the skills to make you; to create you anew. We will teach you this;
Beauty makes us grotesque. You do not need a prince.
At the court of the Fabled Whore. The fairy Harlot Queen; Cinderella’s step-sisters in suspenders; Maleficent in fishnets and stilettos on Miss Witch of the West. This is who we are. Sin and children’s stories. Lurid and disturbing. We do not belong to Aesop, Andersen, Grimm. No man could have written us. Prepare yourself for the Circus silks and the writhing of smoke. We will shatter innocence and paint it with your fear. How devastating; yes. Beneath the rainbow, this pixie realm is a red-light district. Alice’s Wonderland was a whorehouse. Why do you look so surprised?
Walk inside.
Our faces, you will find, are barely myth. We are battered and lacquered and painted. We are bleached, depilated, reshaped. But why do we disgust you, disconcert you? All childhood is false. Snow White’s beauty was a lie. Those apple cheeks achieved through powder and rouge. We work at it. We deal in acids, potions, spells, all to preserve our macabre beauty. We are the belles dames in this underworld of neon lights.
Now dance a Saraband with us. We will teach you how to dance, girl. We have the skills to make you; to create you anew. We will teach you this;
Beauty makes us grotesque. You do not need a prince.
♠ ♠ ♠
The spacing of the first two lines is completely intentional. I should also add that Carol Ann Duffy's poem Mrs Beast has been one of my main sources of inspiration for this piece.