she spells words on pink paper with her finger and

throws the envelope across the room…fevers of

silence

shudder through her apartment and

she cries for fairy godmothers to

free her from poverty’s shackles…

wicked  stepsisters cackle and

weave straw into her hair …whip

marks the spot where

she fails to turn

straw into

bricks…

pailful shivers rattle

sand…and

oceans threaten to slurp over her life and

swallow her…

she

watches…

light bulb flicks once…flicks twice..for

$900 she would pay if

she could but

she can’t…

flicker once and wish for

fairy godmothers…

flicker twice and remember Yah…

pink is swallowed by darkness

she cries for someone to

save…to

pass over her fears…

to draw a

line in the sand

that darkness can’t

Cross