"This is a double wedding.
Rose Red marries the prince's brother.
They are hidden off to one side, behind a curtain. After all,
the focus must be on bear and bride,
no one should have to remember
the ill-fated count and his chunky new wife.
You see, not all the bewitched become noble bears.
There are those whose transformation
is merely revelation
of the beastly hearts they always bore within"
An excerpt of a poem by Cory-Ellen Nadel, full text available to read here. There's a whole list of fairy tale poetry, I picked this one to feature simply because Rose Red is a character more overlooked in most fairy tale treatments. A lot of modern writers are challenging the ideas of "happily ever after" and what it's assumed to mean; this poem also plays around with the idea of inner verses outer beastliness.
Illustrations by H.J. Ford
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