Here's another terrific work that shows the excellence of the submissions for the upcoming "Hansel and Gretel" issue of Enchanted Conversation. This poem is one of my favorite submissions based on the story. It's truly inventive and direct.
Amanda is a long-time reader and collector of fairy tales. She is currently working on a modern not-quite-fairy tale for children. Previous works in Enchanted Conversation include the poems "Happily Ever After" and "Sisterhood."
Starvation Diet
by Amanda Marlowe
The village midwife told me
That my bloody disappointments
Were most likely due to malnutrition.
Each time I came home with empty arms,
As I clutched my empty heart and stomach,
His children's cries and their tears of hunger
Were swallowed, untasted, by my agony.
I could not bear to eat the pair myself,
So I left them out in the woods
With the last of the bread
To find someone
Who could.
Starvation Diet
by Amanda Marlowe
The village midwife told me
That my bloody disappointments
Were most likely due to malnutrition.
Each time I came home with empty arms,
As I clutched my empty heart and stomach,
His children's cries and their tears of hunger
Were swallowed, untasted, by my agony.
I could not bear to eat the pair myself,
So I left them out in the woods
With the last of the bread
To find someone
Who could.
20 comments:
I'm not entirely sure whether to feel sympathy or not! "I could not bear to eat the pair myself/So I left them out in the woods....To find someone who could!"
Brilliant!
terrific!
I truly enjoyed this poem. It had a dark side to it with piercing word choice. It wasn't just a story being told, it was as if the person telling the story was pouring out their heart and soul. It was like they were saying something out loud for the first time that has been killing them with guilt. It is almost as if the person saw their sacrifice of their children as a selfless act. They could not eat them, but someone else would is more selfish than anything, but then again one would find it hard to decide what would be worse for the child. Would they suffer more dying of starvation or be more scared then ever being killed by a stranger for a meal? What is more traumatic for a child? Should they be with their parent until death or know they were abandoned and left to the "wolves" so to speak? This poem leaves one with so many questions, which is what makes it so appealing. I could write an entire paper evaluating this poem. It is a great piece.
-Kelly H.
Brilliant!
Very poignant, the poem conceptualizes Hansel and Gretel’s stepmother’s feelings perfectly. The stark reality of her character is really unremorseful by nature, but the poem shows it as multi-faceted, especially when compared to the one-dimensionality we see in the Brothers Grimm version.
It is easy to see Hansel and Gretel as victims of some brainwashing and as followers of false pretenses. They unquestioningly abide by their parents orders to stay put in the woods, yet they know better. They oblige to this anyway. They are even trusting of the witch, as she has what they want- food. Yet, the stepmother wavers more in line to what “healing” means to her, as opposed to others’ hurt.
Her thought process seems spurred on ironically by someone whose job it was to help children. They originate in the words of a midwife. I find it interesting that the poem has a midwife- someone that attends to child birth (I had to look this up), planting the seed of mistrust within the stepmother. While it is unfair to saddle the midwife with the suggestion of neglect and murder, the poem implies the stepmother internalizes feelings of pain and agony in response to ridding herself of “his children”.
These feelings are in direct response to feeling malnourished. It is as if the stepmother finds some comfort in knowing that if a midwife says she is probably malnourished, there is rightly probable cause. The only problem she sees is the children, so they must go. This suggests some guilt eased as a result of taking council with someone that aids with women and children after birth. I find it fascinating that this adds a whole new dimension in what the stepmother justifies as being nurturing and more broadly what that means as a "mother".
This poem, so short but so full of emotion, was amazing. After reading a couple versions of Hansel and Gretel the poem makes sense and you understand the feelings of the mother exactly. The first time I read through it I felt bad the last line “to find someone who could” didn’t seem bad. I first thought it meant that she was hoping that someone kind would find the children and feed them because she herself could not feed the children, or herself. But I read it again and realized that she sent them out to be eaten, bad mother! When I started reading I felt bad for her situation and then you realize she was considering eating her children and I wished she would starve and die! That’s terrible too but its insane that any parent would feel that way! What is it with villains and cannibalism!? It seems that it is a scare factor added to many of the fairy tale villains to creep people out, it works!
Abigail T.
I am not very familiar with the Hansel and Gretel story, but this version is very sad and I would not have known it is a version, had it not been told to me. Obviously, I am aware of the gist to the story, but this rendition evoked extreme sympathy from me, more than the actual story would, perhaps. I am assuming what is being said is the woman, the stepmother, is having trouble maintaining a pregnancy due to a lack of food. Her husband obviously has two children of his own and they too are starving. This is where the story confuses me of sorts. I assume that she is stating that she implores the option of actually eating the children to sustain, but I could be wrong. If my memory serves me correctly, they are at risk of being eaten in the original story. Perhaps I will re-read the story, maybe it will shed light on this rendition for me.
Vanessa R.
October 28th
7:41p.m
This blog has a lot of connotation by the wording. Each time I read this, I find something interesting about. For instance, when she says, “ my bloody disappointments,” its obviously signifying miscarriages. When the children try to eat, its from her bodily food source , but they go “untasted by my agony.” However, I retract my miscarriage comment, because from that line, the mother/ maternal figure may be dried up and cannot produce the food necessary for the children. The mother is tortured by this problem. It is felt from the words within the poem. The mother is acting in desperation in attempt to not surrender to temptation. Also she cannot see herself eating the children. This is a sign that she is unlike the witch in the forest who succumbs to her gluttonous desires. However, she also proves how wicked she is by throwing the children to the wolf to be eaten. Overall an interesting tale, as well as the shape of the poem.
-Amy F.
Kelsea T
Off Topic
My favorite fairy tale is my own. It does go along with the main theme of popular fairy tales today. But it started off when my cousin Richard and I were born. We were only six months apart. While growing up, we were always staying at my aunt’s house, she could not have children, and she loved to take us off of our parents’ hands for a night or so. We were really good friends. We always said that I was born in a nest, and that he was born under a rock. We played Pooh Sticks at the bridge right outside of our aunt’s yard. We played Mario Brothers in my grandma’s field, and we always had little fights up until we hit our teen years, then he was my hero, stood up for me whenever I needed him. But like every normal and classic fairy tale, things went bad. He moved to Knox, and started a family early. He accidently, died. Drugs are not a pretty thing, our story started off beautifully, and I always thought that it would be perfect. But it’s not. And that was the end of Richard and my fairy tale.
This simply telling of the stepmother give small incites into tragedy of events yet to come. The words are powerful and full of meaning. The suffering felt from starvation is horrific, to the point that the idea of cannibalism seems to flicker in ones mind. The resentment of more mouths to feed is met by ones own inabilities. Filling the shoes as mother to children that aren’t her own during desperate times that only leaves deep scares on the heart. A small gesture that is almost one of kindness is shown to the children before they are tossed out and left to fend of themselves. The last of the bread is given to them as something of a token gesture. Whatever kindness could extract from this small act is diminished by the selfishness that overwhelming pours into the mind of a reader. How cruel and selfish must one be to cast out children so that their cries are no longer herd?
Erin D.
What a great addition of the line of Hansel and Gretel renditions! This really encapsulates everything that much longer versions tell in detail. I may be biased because I have read a few full length versions and may find the story easier to follow. In my book, it’s a great piece of work! This poem seemed very to the point, and very brutal. It shows the horrors of life that most in the tale of Hansel and Gretel endure. The step mother or witch must face her own demons because of the agony she feels in her heart and the inability to produce a child. Not to mention that she is also starving along with the rest of the family. The children are faced with the two separate unmentionable horrors. The first is their being consumed by a member of their own household, the second is them being consumed by the wild. I do feel that the agony lies more within the children because through no fault of their own they cannot be loved or even cared about by their step mother. The line about their tears being un tasted in comparison to the step mother’s own agony shows that they are always placed on the bottom of the chain of importance. This poem perfectly fits into the story of Hansel and Gretel but has the twist about the un conceived child adding to the step mothers dreadfulness. The only bit of information I do not quite comprehend is the meaning of the midwife. Is she only a bearer of bad news, or perhaps she is a symbol of a witch herself. If the step mother can’t eat the children, and she can convince her to get rid of them, than the midwife would be free to capture them herself. Kristy K
This poem really struck me because it is from the stepmother's perspective. In Hansel and Gretel she is portrayed a selfish individual who wants to get rid of the children. We do not get another perspective on her motivations for wanting to get rid of the children in the original fairy tale. Who knows what her other motivations could have been? The stepmother not being able to bear the children because of her own disappointment and grief is not any less selfish really, but it does give added dimension to a character that was originally portrayed as one dimensional. I can understand how the stepmother might resent her husband's children and not see them as her own, and at the same time want to conceive a child of her own blood. This type of thing happens in modern families as well. I guess you could call it a power, love, and status struggle, which can occur among mixed and non conventional family units. This is a very interesting take on the fairy tale and leads you to examine it in a whole new way.
Ashley S.
In this poem we can see in some way the sacrifices that mothers have to make. Of course there are other women that use anything as an excuse in order to leave their children. There are also mothers that truly can’t afford to take care of their children, perhaps some women that choose to leave their children for adoption. Even though most mothers would rather feed their children than be fed. The mother needs to eat in order to survive and keep watching over her children. This poem also makes me think of how horrible it must be to be starving. Especially if you’re a child, perhaps the mother really can’t bear to be starving and watch her children starve with her. Also even though it is very easy to judge the mother for being horrible in the fairy tale “Hansel and Gretel”, starving makes people think and feel differently than they normally would. This poem really makes me think of what starving would really feel like. Guadalupe G.
I had a very hard time understanding what this particular poem was trying to say. She says her stomach and heart are empty after seeing the midwife. First of all, why is she trying to have more children, if she cannot provide for the ones that she already had? If she was pregnant and lost her baby, I could see it being a sad, but looking at the big picture, I would have to believe it to be a blessing. It is hard enough to see any child sick or needing something you can’t give them, let alone several children begging you for food. Then she sends the children to the forest with the last of their bread. Does this mean she is planning on just letting everyone die on their own? I would be completely heart broken to see my children die in front of my eyes and would not be able to handle it at all, but how could anybody send them out on their own where they are in even more danger and they will not only be hungry but also feel deserted, alone, scared, hatred and starving. The whole concept is extremely depressing.
Jenny T
When reading this poem for the first time, it seemed very heart wrenching and the mother seemed very concerned for her children. I thought the mother was wanting the children to go out in the woods and maybe find someone that would take them in as their own and take care of them. But after further analyzing the poem, I looked at the word choice more carefully. She did not want to eat the children herself, because she could not get herself to do so, so she sent the children out in the woods for someone else to do so. This seem out of the ordinary to me, why would a mother want to send her own children that she has raised out in the woods to be eaten by someone? Rather than trying to find another way around the situation? Maybe this idea seemed to be the easy way out for the mother? It must have been because that is what she chooses to do. Tiara J
How lucky for us that live in the land of ease and plenty that we rarely have to learn that ethics are a luxury. Only in tales from concentration camps have I heard the mood of this captured so clearly as in this poem.
K.Taylor
Off Topic But....
I have found myself in a modern day fairy tale. I was at school one day, checking my facebook between classes, when I found that I had a message. It was from an old friend from high school. He asked how I was doing, what I was doing now, and we caught up. We exchanged phone numbers, and he tried to get me to hang out with him for two months. But I blew him off. Then finally one day, he said, “Kelsea we are hanging out tomorrow.” And since that day, we have gotten really close. He is a prince, I must say. He is sweet, very handsome, has nice things, a good job, and knows how to treat a girl with respect. We have been dating for about a month now, and he keeps saying how wonderful and perfect I am for him. I know that this seems like a sweet Disney film, I’m just wondering when the bad guy is going to pop in and steal my fun.
I found this poem to be very interesting when compared to the story. The beginning offers some insight into what drove the step mom to get rid of the kids. Her midwife which in this case sounds like a psychologist links all of her disappointments back to malnutrition. This was not originally the step mom’s idea but implanted in her head by a midwife. Like Ty said it seems somewhat ironic that the one who helps bring the children into the world is the one in a way starting a chain reaction, which leads to her getting rid of the kids. The step mom is still a terrible person for acting on these thoughts, but it still interesting to think of the idea originating from someone else. I think that the poem also tries to justify her actions a little more. Basically she could not bear to end the children’s suffering so she figured better to let someone else do it. In some roundabout way in her mind she is being more considerate of the children, but really she is trying to fulfill her own greed.
Carl C
I really enjoyed reading this blog entry. I think it adds something new & fresh to the story of “Hansel and Gretel.” It allows the reader to see more than one side of the characters and it’s nice to get some kind of idea of what the witch/stepmother might have been thinking. While the witch/stepmother are seen as the villains in the story, maybe, according to this poem, there’s more to them than what meets the eye. When she says: “Each time I came home with empty arms, As I clutched my empty heart and stomach, His children's cries and their tears of hunger Were swallowed, untasted, by my agony” it makes me think that she feels bad for not being able to supply the children with food and she is so overcome by that remorse that she feels the best thing for them is to leave. I don’t think this is how she felt in the actual story, but it’s something nice to ponder.
-Emily C.
This poem was too short, but yet, very well written. It was a very good summary of one of the Hansel and Gretel versions. The poem was filled with emotion and was written very well. The question is whether or not if the parents are good parents or not for making the children go out into the woods alone in hopes to find someone who will better provide for the children so they will not starve to death and be better provided for. The other argument is that the parents are bad parents for sending their children out into the woods by their selves. The children were given the last of the families bread; food is like gold in those days so their food would draw more people’s attention and they could be robbed of their food which is a scarcity. The children could be seriously injured out in the woods by anything especially animals or dangerous people. There are some people who would harm others. People could rob the children, kidnap them or kill them. Now some people would be very kind and take in others to help better their life. Also, in today’s society we don’t worry so much about starving because there are food stamps available for those who need assistance. Back then during the time in which fairy tales were first being told there were very few options for those who needed food, except for those who were very kind and gave food out to those who need it.
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