Lanette Cadle
Why the Frog Rejected the Princess
Sometimes it comes down to frogs.
They are what they are, and no
fairy tale can make it different.
They’re green like river rock
so that predators can’t see them
and some of them spit if cornered.
Yet, generations look for frogs to be
princes, at least inside books,
and that ain’t going to happen.
Not even once. It gives books
a bad name. Let’s see what
new tales we can tell daughters,
for sons already know
that if you kiss a frog, you don’t
get a princess (or a prince).
Let’s tell new tales. How about
the frog who built a palace
weaving lily pads with his ladyfrog
and from that petaled shelter
they raised a swarm of tadpoles who
grew up strong and spit in the eye
of any human stupid enough
to plant hands in mud and lean in.
Lanette Cadle is an associate professor of English at Missouri State University. She has previously published poetry in Connecticut Review, NEAT, Menacing Hedge, TAB: The Journal of Poetry and Poetics, and Weave Magazine. She is a past recipient of the Merton Prize for Poetry of the Sacred.
Why the Frog Rejected the Princess
Sometimes it comes down to frogs.
They are what they are, and no
fairy tale can make it different.
They’re green like river rock
so that predators can’t see them
and some of them spit if cornered.
Yet, generations look for frogs to be
princes, at least inside books,
and that ain’t going to happen.
Not even once. It gives books
a bad name. Let’s see what
new tales we can tell daughters,
for sons already know
that if you kiss a frog, you don’t
get a princess (or a prince).
Let’s tell new tales. How about
the frog who built a palace
weaving lily pads with his ladyfrog
and from that petaled shelter
they raised a swarm of tadpoles who
grew up strong and spit in the eye
of any human stupid enough
to plant hands in mud and lean in.
Lanette Cadle is an associate professor of English at Missouri State University. She has previously published poetry in Connecticut Review, NEAT, Menacing Hedge, TAB: The Journal of Poetry and Poetics, and Weave Magazine. She is a past recipient of the Merton Prize for Poetry of the Sacred.