Origin Story by Katie Jenkins (Lucent Dreaming Issue 9)

It was sucker-punch simplicity:

heavy with her umbilical burden
she craved rampion
from the neighbour’s thorny garden.

Heavy with his responsibility
her expectation
he relented, fetched it.

The price they paid was cherub, newborn, coveted infant—
Rapunzel. Me.
Traded like a handful of beans.

Years I spent abandoned
in that lonely totem of loss
my braid a dead gold chain
the crone my only caregiver
bitterness lacing my blood.

But now

I am shorn

with children of my own

I imagine:

my mother’s keening
my father’s terror

their urge to save me

and I am reborn.

Buy issue 9 today.

Lucent Dreaming is an independent creative writing magazine publishing beautiful, imaginative and surreal short stories, poetry and artwork from emerging authors and artists worldwide. Subscribe to Lucent Dreaming now, support us on Patreon and follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. 

Katie Jenkins lives in Gloucestershire with her husband and son. Her poetry has been anthologised by Everyman’s Library and Acid Bath Publishing. She has poems in various online journals including Twist in Time and 8 Poems. She has a creative writing diploma from Oxford University.
@liljenko