124
2018
NORTH CAROLINA L I T E R A R Y RE V I E W
FINALIST, 2017 JAMES APPLEWHITE POETRY PRIZE BY CHRISTINA CLARK
Fairytale Rules for the 21st Century Woman
COURTESY OF THE ARTIST
Don’t expect the scar-knuckled beast with cigar-breath and fermenting sheets to change. Don’t stitch yourself asleep with a dirty needle and count on soft lips, a knight’s gentle kiss to wake you. Don’t swallow all the pills that say Eat Me or drink yourself down to a thimbleful of light at the bottom of glass after glass. Don’t cut out your tongue and squeeze on stilettos
21st Century Fairytale (digital painting, 5.25x7.25 by Rachel Elia
Originally from California, RACHEL ELIA moved around quite a bit before eventually moving to Apex, NC. She is pursuing a BFA with a concentration in illustration and printmaking. NCLR Art Editor Diane Rodman selected Elia’s for publication with the poem saying, “I love her references to classic characteristics of fairy tales in general, but more specifically to classic fairy tale themes in works such as ‘Aladdin and the Magic Lamp,’ the Wicked Witch in The Wizard of Oz, and the Grimm Brothers’ tale ‘The Spirit in the Bottle,’ just to name a few. T he depiction of the death’s-head hawkmoth is a great supernatural touch that invites interpretation.”
CHRISTINA CLARK earned her MFA in creative writing from UNC Wilmington, and she is now pursuing a master’s degree in speechlanguage pathology from North Carolina Central University. Her poems have previously appeared or are forthcoming in Main Street Rag, Off the Coast, Cactus Heart, The Poet’s Billow, Calyx, cream city review, and New South. Her poem “Adrift in the Port City” won the 2017 James Applewhite Poetry Prize and will be published in the 2018 print issue, along with another of her poems selected as a finalist.