American Life in Poetry: ‘Fairy Tale’

By Kwame Dawes

This poem captures one of the peculiar, private deals that we sometimes make in a world that seems to be marching on, completely out of our control. Some might call it a prayer, or a spell, or a strange vow, characterized by a certain magical hope against reality. Huey labels it a “fairy tale,” a deeply haunting expression of the familiar fear we have of “the bill” coming due.

Fairy Tale

My father cuts off his thumb with a circular saw.

A tiny magical man makes me an offer.

I cannot refuse. My father’s thumb grows back.

The price I have agreed to pay is too great;

I cannot bear to say its name aloud. In the corner

of every room I enter, the tiny magical man

crouches, nameless and cruel. Not today, he says.

Not today. One day, I will enter a room and he will

not be there, and I will know the bill has come due.

A phone will ring. I will answer. A stranger’s voice

will mispronounce my name, apologize,

hesitate. In this brief silence, foolish hope will bloom.

Poem copyright 2021 by Amorak Huey, “Fairy Tale” from the Southern Review, Vol. 37:3, Summer 2021. American Life in Poetry is made possible by the Poetry Foundation and the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Poem reprinted by permission of the author and the publisher. We do not accept unsolicited submissions.