They sewed cockroaches to checkered pearl buttons
put them in empty shoe boxes,
left them on the front row seats
of darkened theaters.
Experimented with dried roses,
testing the power of their dust
to make hedgegogs sneeze, trampling their petals
into the ground.
They pulled out the hair of bald men
while they slept, knitted them
into small tents to make play villages
for their children.
They whispered into the ears of my dreams
stories they said I shouldn't repeat
unless I wanted them
to come true.
They made me promise to feel foolish
for believing in them.
Jennifer Burnau's poetry has appeared in Voices from the Attic (Carlow University), the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, and the online journal, Fickle Muses. She teaches in the Pittsburgh Public Schools.
What do you think is the attraction of the fantasy genre?
The attraction of the fantasy genre for me, is that it provides an alternative method of playing with ideas and working through problems in the form of sparkling allegory.