Cinderella 2003

Not only kitchen maid
But sales accountant, secretary, manager
She slaves away her weeks

In Neon lit dungeons
In front of fluorescent screens
Not counting peas
But increasing the treasures of invisible kings

The two stepsisters
Have many names and faces now
They changed their sex
But not their vanity

The good fairy
Is now called
Helena Rubinstein
Or Elizabeth Arden
And can be met at Boot’s
Selling magic ointments
Promising
Eternal youth.

From tough wonder woman
Fighting life’s every day battles
Without a magic wand,
By magic spells
Cinderella turns into
A soft and purring, sexy creature
Hiding her strength
Lest kings and princes
Turn away in horror
By the truth.

But, be careful
The spell still only
Last till midnight.
Then pumpkin coaches
Turn into early subway trains
And glass shoes into
Sensible but still attractive
Footwear for work
The ball gowns
Into business suits
Because no matter
How strong the spell
The alarm goes off
At 5.30.


Cinderella, barefoot

Grown-up,
She came to see
That glass shoes never fit
That bloody feet leave ugly stains
That princes are just one-night-stands
That blood-red nights end monochrome
That its for her to wipe the floor,
To wash the sheets, to clean the mess.



Cinderella’s Funeral

She might have thought
There would be
A glass coffin and rose
Petals on the way and
Beautiful tears from beautiful
Eyes in beautiful faces
And deep sighs and moans
Of love and loss and shiny
Locks pulled out in desperation
And confessions of misconception
And regret and on the stone the words

“There Never Will Be Anyone Like HER”

But on that day
Unspectacular rain did fall
All of them were busy elsewhere
Perfecting their amnesia
She stood there alone looking down into the consoling hole,
Knew she would not expect visitors anymore
Would not wait any longer for the redeeming kiss
And realized that even this last event was to be planned, organized and paid for by herself