Monday, October 31, 2016

"Witches have Sweet Teeth" by Kanchan Naik

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!! Today we continue our special Halloween feature on the blog! In the past few days we have been featuring poetry on this topic, from the spooky to the light-hearted. We hope these pieces help you get into the Halloween spirit!


Our third and final piece comes from young writer Kanchan Naik, whose poetry is featured in the Write On! Books online literary journal Word Smorgasbord.

 
Witches have Sweet Teeth 

(Note from the author: This is based off of the darker themes behind fairy tales. Most of the plot of this poem is told from the witch’s perspective in Hansel and Gretel. The underlying moral of the poem regards how things that are sweet can be much deadlier than what seems frightening on the outside. It speaks of how evil can show up in the people we least expect it to.)   

A trickle of rosy frosting dribbles down
Bronze valleys and cocoa pools of
Cookies left with lace napkins signed by
Death himself in lilac and baby blue

Every blotch of tawny sweetness
Freckled with flecks of perfect poison
Globs of acetone tucked in flour, just for you

Hold your breath and open wide
I can spoon-feed every bite, saying
Jack fell down and lost his crown
Kill you slowly with a nursery rhyme

Longer, longer I can wait
My cuckoo clock keeps ticking
Never stopping; dread that deadly chime?

Old Mother Hubbard, went to the cupboard
Pulled out a pie made with newborn blackbirds
Quickly, quickly spread the frosting; I’ve been trying
Recipes you taste only once, feathers in the crust

Syrup is sweeter with a pinch of powder
Trust me, there’s space in your tummy
Unless you’ll try this one; just think of it as
Vanilla mixed with pixie dust

We live in a house of gummy bears
Xenophic of wolves behind that tree outside
Yet darling, witches have sweet tooths
Zest for life disappears in the sugar

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About Kanchan (in her own words):
 
Ever since I was little, my only goal was to find something exciting to write about. When I stayed up late reading baffling mystery novels or hoisting a flashlight to make sense of poetry, I found another world rich and exciting, where anything and everything was possible. But what I realize now is that there’s always a mystery or an adventure in our ordinary, everyday life; so when I look for inspiration, I look for a spark in events that are completely real. Other than that, I’m a Potterhead, a whistler, and a complete sap for Disney movies and their happy endings. I like to feel, whether it is feeling the emotions of the characters in the books or feeling the surface of the rocks while climbing blindfolded… It’s like nothing else exists except perhaps my whistling to the wind.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Enjoyed reading it