The Lorelei Signal

Poisoned
Written by Devan Barlow / Artwork by Carol Hightshoe

I worry the poison apple will reject me
Peel and pips flee from my fingers
Like pomegranate seeds from a pretender Persephone
I will not prove the prettiest, not truly
And she'll traipse off to poison someone else
I've really been looking forward to the glass coffin in the woods
To get some sleep for once
And not have to worry about what I look like
Or what other people look like
Or how clean the manor is
There are rooms for seven people in the manor
Relatives not in the running for prettiest compete, connive, caress,
Whatever it takes to get themselves a room here
They crave the distance from the court
Rooms for seven, and a closet large enough for one beautiful maid
Of course I'm this beautiful
I've been sculpted to be nothing else
I keep the alchemists in business the same as everyone
My potions and powders barely fit in this closet of mine
But if I'm not prettiest, the latest glass coffin will enshroud someone else
They keep playing us against one another
And we never learn
At least never enough to get past the specter of supposed ugliness
My stepmother herself came out of a coffin five years ago
Just before she married my father
The poison apples come from that grove
In the shade of the alchemists' workshop
My eventual rescuer need but purchase the antidote
Apply the expensive unguent to his lips
Then smash them against mine
Without asking my permission, the antidote will reach my heart
Shocking me awake
He'll carry me to hide that I am too weak to walk
Too weak to run away
And then I'll be a queen, and only useful for my jealousy
So before all of that
I hope I am the prettiest
Accepted by the poison apple
For I would like to rest
At least a while





Devan Barlow is the author of An Uncommon Curse, a novel of fairy tales and musical theatre. Her short fiction and poetry have appeared in several anthologies and magazines including Solarpunk Magazine and Diabolical Plots.
She can be found at her website https://devanbarlow.com/ or on Bluesky @devanbarlow.bsky.social. She reads voraciously, and can often be found hanging out with her dog, drinking tea, and thinking about sea monsters.