In my adolescence I enjoyed a short obsession with poetry and checked out book after book of it from my middle school library. I would type up my favorite poems and I remember loving James Weldon Johnson and Langston Hughes in particular. My middle school library was filled with the works of African American poets--it must have been a soft spot and quest of my adored African American librarian at the school. "Go Down Death" by James Weldon Johnson resonated then and it still one of the few poems I can quote parts to myself. (I am a horrible, horrible memorizer so that is a feat.)
Anyway, this poem is Johnson's own invention and has many possible interpretations When rereading it this month, I was also reminded of The Snow Queen, so I decided to share it here. That's the beauty of poetry. We bring our own experience to it which gives it other meanings the poet perhaps never intended. Of course, this one has many layers considering Johnson's heritage, but he creates a parable type story where it can be as innocuous or as subversive as one would like.
The White Witch
by James Weldon Johnson
O brothers mine, take care! Take care!
The great white witch rides out to-night.
Trust not your prowess nor your strength,
Your only safety lies in flight;
For in her glance there is a snare,
And in her smile there is a blight.
The great white witch you have not seen?
Then, younger brothers mine, forsooth,
Like nursery children you have looked
For ancient hag and snaggle-tooth;
But no, not so; the witch appears
In all the glowing charms of youth.
Her lips are like carnations, red,
Her face like new-born lilies, fair,
Her eyes like ocean waters, blue,
She moves with subtle grace and air,
And all about her head there floats
The golden glory of her hair.
But though she always thus appears
In form of youth and mood of mirth,
Unnumbered centuries are hers,
The infant planets saw her birth;
The child of throbbing Life is she,
Twin sister to the greedy earth.
And back behind those smiling lips,
And down within those laughing eyes,
And underneath the soft caress
Of hand and voice and purring sighs,
The shadow of the panther lurks,
The spirit of the vampire lies.
For I have seen the great white witch,
And she has led me to her lair,
And I have kissed her red, red lips
And cruel face so white and fair;
Around me she has twined her arms,
And bound me with her yellow hair.
I felt those red lips burn and sear
My body like a living coal;
Obeyed the power of those eyes
As the needle trembles to the pole;
And did not care although I felt
The strength go ebbing from my soul.
Oh! she has seen your strong young limbs,
And heard your laughter loud and gay,
And in your voices she has caught
The echo of a far-off day,
When man was closer to the earth;
And she has marked you for her prey.
She feels the old Antaean strength
In you, the great dynamic beat
Of primal passions, and she sees
In you the last besieged retreat
Of love relentless, lusty, fierce,
Love pain-ecstatic, cruel-sweet.
O, brothers mine, take care! Take care!
The great white witch rides out to-night.
O, younger brothers mine, beware!
Look not upon her beauty bright;
For in her glance there is a snare,
And in her smile there is a blight.
From The Book of American Negro Poetry
, edited by James Weldon Johnson, published in 1922. (Found on Poets.org and elsewhere on the web.) This one is out of copyright.
. It doesn't reference a specific fairy tale, but it is impish and earns its name.
It's light and silly and fun but it is Robin Hood and we had fun with it until they killed off Marian and made the third season unwatchable. It's no surprise it didn't get a 4th season. 
have learned from the mistakes of Robin Hood. Both of these series are along the lines of family entertainment like 
, some scariness and such, but overall clean and suitable for perhaps 8 and older. Actually, I think the Doctor is often the spookiest with the strange aliens walking around in our world. Merlin and Robin Hood are historical fantasy and have an element of disassociation with them accordingly.
by Clive Sansom is an old, long out-of-print collection of fairy tale poems first published in 1969. I acquired a copy years ago but the book is hard to find and expensive, even more now, perhaps in part because it's been listed on SurLaLune for years--I believe all the scans of the cover on the internet are my original one. (That yellowing on the bottom of the image is foxing on my particular copy that I never color corrected.) The poems are charming but usually not very profound. One of my favorites is his interpretation of Bluebeard, "The Forbidden Room," which I have scanned and am sharing with you today. 
. And I enjoyed it. It had fun with the story while not being enslaved to it. To be honest, I was rather burned out on heavy, depressing Camelot stories with Guinevere usually annoying me no end, so Avalon High was refreshing. And it even got me more willing to deal with Camelot again despite the burnout. Enough so that I am actually enjoying the third season of Merlin that just finished to the point where I am eager for season four. If you only tuned in to the first season of that series, it has improved each season. The 
on DVD.
. Yes, I know Cabot teeters on the "we're too cool or literary to admit we enjoy her" edge, but when I am looking for entertaining light reading, she often fits the bill just fine for me. I get rather annoyed at times by that attitude, too, especially when I am guilty of it. That's why I try to cover just about everything here but erotica which I don't touch on the blog trying this at least PG-13 around here. I say if people are actually buying books and reading, hallelujah! Even if they are borrowing books and reading, hallelujah! Fairy tales get the same kind of dismissive treatment and you in the choir here know they can be anything but light and innocuous...
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