What’s the Time, Mister Wolf?
a short fairy tale
one night, at the Lime
Tree Palace, foul rascals stormed
the Mandarin Gates
guarded by the Pith
soldiers who were wet with chews,
twirling batons. The
court deftly tightroped
over the Royal Jelly
garden, tiptoeing
by the sherbet lake
to the slip safety of the
executioner.
Hooded in midnight
dressed in charcoal liquorice,
he was a stone wolf,
a black liquorice
executioner, an ore
wolf with a kiln heart
and he ate all of
them with a drear howl. Now, all
the stories are told
Grant Tarbard has worked as a computer games journalist, a contributor to football fanzines, an editor, a reviewer and an interviewer. He is now the editor of The Screech Owl. His work can be seen in such magazines as The Rialto, Ink, Sweat & Tears, Bone Orchard Poetry, The Journal, Southlight, Sarasvati, Earth Love, Mood Swing, Puff Puff Prose Poetry & Prose, Postcards Poetry and Prose, Playerist 2, Lake City Lights, The Open Mouse, Miracle, Poetry Cornwall, I-70, South Florida Review, Zymbol and Decanto.