works by w.pham

works by william pham, 2005-present
The Retelling of "Beauty and the Beast"

You beast you
reading about your ancestor in the fairy tale section
of the bookstore, you you're a beast in sneakers,
shirt and jacket, glasses slightly askew,
your great-great-great-grandfather was a beast
and you you're a beast too,
turning the pages with your great big paws
and neatly-trimmed claws, and you pause, you beast,
cradling the fairy tale in your jaws,
the sounds of the words underlined emboldened italicized
by the growling cadence of your voice, you beast you.

Where is your rose you beast,
where is your princess you beast,
where is your mansion you beast,
or is the only thing you've inherited located
between the pages of the fairy tale in your jaws,
the choked-back loneliness that echoes in your eyes,
dark, dark, eyes of a beast, you beast, you,
where is your beauty you beast?

Tread carefully through the snow to find her,
your haunches will carry you through the snow,
until you know what I have known all along,
you beast you, there is no beauty for you,
none for you nor I, because I am a beast
as well.