Hi,

I realize I haven’t been exactly dedicated to the website this week, but only because of my job. Heck, it’s a great job, it’s just too much of a job!

So, I will treat myself to another of Amy Dengler’s wonderful poems, which I am sure you will enjoy as well. I will also add it to the Introducing … Amy Dengler page, which you can now see to the right! (I’m proud of myself for figuring this out!)

Remember, she is reading at the Salem Writers launch of the Massachusetts Poetry Festival, from Oct. 15-18. See their website (to the left) for more info.

What I Know Now

by Amy Dengler

So fervent was my faith

in saints and miracles

that at twelve I was astonished

to have witnessed neither.

Gradually I gave up on guardian angels,

those white wings hovering between me and misfortune,

and traded them for fairy tales.

I was enchanted by Cinderella,

Snow White and every other

girl receiving just reward

for scrubbing floors

and following the rules. …

Every princess in the tower

or lost in the forest

will come to know

the way to the castle lies not

in the clear glass of slippers

but within.

Halos are only hats

and happily ever after

is not so much endless shimmer

as the occasional lightning bug.