Beauty and the Beast
I’ve seen the film, but unlike
my daughters I am no student
of the varied vicissitudes
of Belle, the Beauty’s, life.
I like the louche candlestick
and the footstool who’s a dog,
the Beast I’ve not much time for:
loads of men are hairy, have bad luck,
and don’t have a palace to stay in.
Belle’s got a Disney nose, hardly
a nose at all, a tiny inverted V,
just a scratch, and eyes like a lemur’s,
but we cannot doubt her qualities:
she loves her father,
is brave, yet vulnerable
and she has curves that Walt
would not have liked.
In the end all is well,
she marries David Coverdale
so that’s alright,
and lives happily ever more:
so why do I shudder so,
when my girls rehearse
the kiss that wakes the beast?
5 comments:
How many of today's yoof will get the Coverdale reference? I know one big Whitesnake fan (quite close by...).
When I saw the heading I thought it was going to be a post about your photo (here folks).
I like the poem. It's hard to write about daughters and fairy tales (been done quite a lot I think) but this has something different. You do unsettling very well.
x
When I started writing everyone was an ugly old grunter and all the women were bald.
Still a bit iffy about "vicissitudes" but it's good. Rachel's right, you do do unsettling well, and that oblique angle you find.
David Coverdale no Ian Gillan, it should be said.
Am I the only one who always fancies the Beast more?
the kiss that wakes the beast indeed. i watched my daughter work her way through the princesses and wodnered which features she would gravitate to or away from. which choices she would embellish or diminish and make her own eventually!! i really enjoyed reading your take on this!!!! steven
As a kid who grew up on Disney, I found myself not interested in the picture perfect Princess of the Moment but in the less than handsome suitors who kept her going. So they were Dwarves, but Snow White had 7 little guys following her around,willing to do her bidding.
No, I'm not hoping your Fair Princesses bring home a Beast or short guys named Dopey or Grumpy. But I find it oddly touching to hear the Father in you wondering about how they'll find that first kiss. Nicely done, Professor!
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