Waiting for the Prince Nicole Borg
Nicole Borg’s Up On Big Rock Poetry Series collection, All Roads Lead Home, was released in April 2018. This is no fairy tale. The man on the horse in the woods is just as lost as you; he turns the map in his hands and turns away. So, pace the turret, if you must, throw down your hair. Wait, until your story’s pages yellow, the binding’s leather cracks, your thick locks gray. Where the hell is he? This is no once-upon-a-time. The happy ending is as much a lie as the prince. It’s likely there has never been a happy ending. A kiss is a kiss—sweet. Sometimes there are happy middles and satisfying season finales. The mirror shows just one reflection and a lot depends on lighting. Apples have a bad reputation through no fault of their own. Slippers of glass break or give you blisters, or at the least, make your feet sweat. The woodcutter had other options. So do you. Sisters, step-sisters, step-mothers— the time is no more or less right to be your own fairy godmother. Cut off that prison of long hair. Get a pair of traveling shoes and your own mare. Wear chinos. Leave the map in the tower. Listen—the birds, the trees, the wind that is beholden to no one. Make a wish. Then, make it happen.
Lost Lake Folk Opera 109
