[Poetry Friday] Fierce Fairytales by Nikita Gill

Fats here.

Two months ago, I shared poems by one of my favorite writers, Nikita Gill. Those were all taken from Wild Embers. The anthology left me with a desire to read more. I searched our catalog and found a copy of her other collection, Fierce Fairytales: Poems and Stories to Stir Your Soul. This is a brilliant interpretation on fairy tales that we are familiar with.

Buy Fierce Fairytales on Amazon | Book Depository

Many thanks to Christie at Wondering and Wandering for hosting Poetry Friday round-up this week!

Scheherazade the Clever

A clever woman is more lethal
than a freshly crafted magic wand,
and this is why she is feared.
She is unpredictable, and unpredictable
is another word for ‘threat’
when a woman wears it well.
This is why they try
to snatch her power away.
Vilify her by saying she is
dangerous, manipulative, insane.
With ‘no’ and the fight out of
their daughters early
so they they don’t turn out like her.
The vixen, the vamp, the witch;
they have so many words
to convey their dislike of this woman,
because she holds her own
on a planet clearly not built
for humans like her.

In trying to find the rest of the poem online, I came across writing prompts on a Tumblr page. It was a “Nikita Gill edition,” according to the person who wrote the post. If you feel empowered to write something along the lines of fierce fairytales and clever women, check out these writing prompts.