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If I change mother to stepmother
it will be more credible when she plots
to lose the children so as to have more bread.
The whole scheme can be her idea, and her fault.
But the father will stay the father: he's more
natural — and underneath, he cares.
True, he agrees to his wife's cruel plan —
but reluctantly, and he'll recant at the end
and live with the saved children — and the gold;
the stepmother drowns in a well: that's too bad.
Now the children… I think Hansel will be
the active one — resourceful, quick-witted.
See how he lays a stone trail while pretending
to look back, poetically, at their roof
shining like a gold puddle in the sun.
He has a good sense of theatre, too —
as when he fools the witch with the chicken bone.
Gretel's only action, apart from sobbing,
is to shove the witch into the oven —
in self-defence, and necessary, of course,
but what a vindictive little thing she is!
She'll have the guilt of it, no mistake.
Yes, stepmothers, witches — what a bunch!
Gretel might end up as both one day.
That house in the woods is my masterstroke.
The original one was made of bread —
no Viennese chocolates for gargoyles,
or lollipop windows, or meringue eaves.
Just bread. No wonder I've livened it up!
But you too can invent your own version,
with lemonade on tap, pizzas crisping
in the oven. Not a witch in sight.
A girl called Gretel does the dishes after
you've had your fill. A home away from home! —
except that, if you still feel peckish,
you can nibble the furniture. Outside,
the muzac of birds stuck to lemon-drop trees
is never-ending, becomes your mind's sound,
your mind's sound, your mind's sound … your mind's sound?