The Art of Tetman Callis

tücher the prince and cinderella scoot
moving boy-footed and girl-slippered to set the coffee table for tea
fat-handed children giggly to spread the white sheet with tease and toys
the sheet doing for a tablecloth for children spilling onto the floor
their laughy bodies falling falling
stopped at mid-play by cinderella’s mother calling
‘step lightly, cinderella, step away’

leaving a slim glass slipper under the ghostly-sheeted coffee table
topped by cold dregs for sipping
stale scones for supping
cinderella slipping like mist from charmful tücher the prince
now of the -pality of one
boy-footed to the doorway moving
watching cinderella run

calling to the ashen girl vanishing cinderella! making fists unmaking fists
making fists again
fat hands rolled into scepter’s ends
prince tücher squints into the brightliness of a sunnish day
watching the girl-slippered girl slip away—
knobby-handed princeling, it’s time to clear the table
there will be another ball tonight

(Copyright 2023 by Tetman Callis.)