Next Time You Interview a Unicorn Prepare Better Questions
I respond to you because you’re alone waiting for a bus in freezing wind, blowing on your frostbitten fingers. I feel sorry for you. I’m here to watch the aurora borealis predicted for tonight, a first this far south. Yes, I have family and friends. I am an alicorn of the Water Moon lineage. My ancestors go ten centuries back. Too bad you never knew your grandfather. To be blunt which is word I hesitate to use as we prefer degrees of sharp (as in horns), we do not seek virgins. Too fraught with lies. A medieval princess had her portrait painted with a unicorn so her suitors would believe she was intact. About tapestries–those showing hunters ganging up on one of the Mountain Jewel individuals. Five hundred years ago. There’s debate about whether that was really a unicorn. Fences do not contain us. Do not get me started on those heinous toys with rainbow hair. I can’t barf, but you get the idea. Do not give one to your daughter. I suppose they were meant as compliments, but it’s like saying Santa dolls represent humans. Buy her a toy tractor. Or an anatomically correct plastic dinosaur. We’re barely surviving this sixth mass extinction cycle. I could disappear in a blink. Sometimes I fantasize about kicking a human in the head, but I won’t. You’d freeze to death. I prefer peace when possible. Tomorrow wear mittens.
About the Author: Tricia Knoll’s poetry is widely published on journals and in nine collections, either full-length books or chapbooks. She has begun working in prose poetry. Her most recent book The Unknown Daughter (Finishing Line Press) contains 27 persona poems of voices reacting to a fictional Tomb of the Unknown Daughter. She is a Contributing Editor to the online journal Verse Virtual. Website: triciaknoll.com
Image Credit: The Unicorn in Captivity (1495–1505) Public domain image courtesy of Wikimedia
As It Ought To Be 