Fairy Tales for Writers: The Little Mermaid

[desayunoencama]

The Little Mermaid
by Lawrence Schimel


She gave up her voice for him,
learning to mimic the minimalist style
he advocated in his workshops.

They had met at a conference.
He was one of the guest lecturers,
and all during his talk about passion
and craft, he kept his eyes on her.

In the one-on-one discussion of her work,
he complimented her form
and said she showed tremendous promise.
The things he could show her...
His deep-timbred voice was full of assurances
and innuendo, and she succumbed to both.

She slaved to scrape together
enough money to join the MFA
where he taught, working double shifts
as a waitress that sent sharp pains
shooting up her legs from being on her feet
all day and night. She had no time to write.
But she bore it all silently, buoyed by the memory
of their time together at the conference,
and the promise the future held.

At the cocktail party, the night before
the first day of classes, where the students were
to meet and mingle with the faculty and each other,
he introduced her to his wife,
who had also once aspired to write, but now
was content to remain in his shadow,
to be seen on his arm when he won awards and
to look the other way when he followed
his wandering eye.




Copyright © 2007 by Lawrence Schimel. All rights reserved. From Fairy Tales for Writers by Lawrence Schimel, New York: A Midsummer Night's Press. (www.amidsummernightspress.com)

Comments

[jillbertini.livejournal.com]

I really like this retelling. Very nice, and quite chilling, just like the original :D.

[glib-dichotomy.livejournal.com]

Really cool piece - I really liked how you did the parallel.

To introduce myself, I'm rosefox's friend Bonnie - we played Boggle in New York and you kicked arse. I asked her for your LJ name, and here I am. =)

[desayunoencama.livejournal.com]

Glad you liked the poem, Bonnie, and good to reconnect with you here on LJ. :-)

I'm back in NYC in late May so maybe another round of Boggle then, perhaps with rosemom, too?

[glib-dichotomy.livejournal.com]

That sounds lovely and a half. I wonder how the scores will come out if rosemom plays - will you dominate the game like last time, or will all of us adjust ;)

[gardnercastle.livejournal.com]

This is chilling, and a variation of it happens all too often. It sounds like the story of my mom, who never wrote another story after she married her creative writing professor.

[deliasherman.livejournal.com]

Lovely. And very like real life. Almost happened to me, in fact, though I bailed out of that relationship before it could.

And now I can read the rest of your poems, because your chapbook just came in the mail today, and it's not nearly as good as having them from your hand in beautiful, sunny FLorida and discussing them afterwards, but it will have to do.

Let me know when you're going to be in New York. If I'm in town (I'm doing lots of travelling this spring and summer), we'll get together.

[desayunoencama.livejournal.com]

Glad you were able to get out of that relationship in time, for you (and selfishly as a reader since we got to read the resulting books and stories later! :->)

Yes, a shame you weren't able to make it down to FL, but getting together when next I am in NYC would be lovely. (And I could see the new place!)

I will be there mostly between Wiscon and BookExpo, so end of May/early June.

[daedala.livejournal.com]

This is awesome. Thank you.

I love retellings of The Little Mermaid that bring out just how horrible it is.

[pearlformance.livejournal.com]

ohhh, that slays.

[pearlformance.livejournal.com]

in a good way.

[desayunoencama.livejournal.com]

Glad you like it.
:-)