Poetry

A Bedtime Ruckus (Hänsel and Gretel, Alternative Ending)

by Gustave Deresse

Hänsel and Gretel
escaped
through the back, if only
to
fall into
a moss
coated rabbit trap; a dove,
spotting them from above,
observed a
glimmer of hope in their eyes; little
did
they know
this bird was spellbound
to laugh
at
all
the witch’s prey
in the key
of
E flat.

Once every thirty seconds—
“coo, coo… haha ha
HA!!!” Strangely,
the witch
never came back,
until, one
day,
their bones were
picked
clean.

Who ever knew the
worms would be
so
mean?

Well, deep underground, they
finally
had TV, and that’s
how they knew
to eat the little
humans who’d
ventured
onto
their land.