Baba Yaga

She had a special gift but

hated children

wanted to gnash on them

eat them

A beautiful girl came

through the forest

to the house on chicken feet

to have her ugly removed

a pointed horn stuck on her face

like a unicorn,

like a half-baked demon

The old woman removed it

took the ugly for herself

sent the girl to fill a pot of water

to cook her with

The pot came back empty

no one saw the cracks in the bottom

the old woman put the horn

on the front of her house

sent her away again

The girl came back once more

with empty pot

The witch, angry

bares her teeth

demands her pot of water

The girl realizes her fate,

her death

and in walking again

to water, runs back

through the forest

home

Baba Yaga rages

flies high on her bundle

of dry, cracked bristles

loosely tied together

she chomps down trees, bark

with her mouth

Tired, scanning the ground

she is left alone

no food

only the ugly