Valerie Fox

Two Important Questions Concerning Fairy Tales

Why in those days were there so many witch-women?
What’s the most magical stick of furniture in your house?

Once, when I was a child, I didn’t know what a water-closet was,
or a rock garden, or a witch-woman.

It turns out that spirits were everywhere and essential
to the world view in my house.

The most magical stick of furniture varied (varies).
A salty spirit flew from blender to lamp to floor-covering.

Some people and objects might not be furniture, strictly speaking,
but they rise to the top, they are the loudest, they’re like gold.

This book is heavy and full of witches.
One might be alive, here, at home in the coffee-table.

The table-top cigarette burns add character.
The mill-stone around my neck is starting to sing.

Valerie Fox’s books include The Rorschach Factory (Straw Gate Books) and The Glass Book (Texture Press). Recently she published Poems for the Writing: Prompts for Poets, co-authored with Lynn Levin. She’s published writing in Hanging Loose, Ping Pong, Qarrtsiluni, Sentence, West Branch, Apiary, and other journals. She teaches at Drexel University, in Philadelphia.