Incestuous Sisters

• POST a QUESTION or COMMENT about this article topic

An evil mist hung over her log house.
Thick, yellow, with a greenish cast.
And,
she wondered. Would Gryndyl come tonight.

Conditions were right.
The stench of rotting peat and bog-slime
crept through windows
stuck to curtains
and flavored her mushroom stew.
An evil brew, that one, kept simmering
in wait.
For Gryndyl.
Together they waited,
Fredika and her stew, in her log house
in the thick mist.

Seven years since her sister and her lover
one in the same
had fled the marsh.
Seven long years.
Cursed by Gryndyl for their incest.

Seven years Fredika studied the ancient
texts, learned the smallest details
of rhyme, curse, and time
moved slowly,
then, tonight,
or perhaps tomorrow night,
if the fog were thicker,
would stop.

Entering this silent state,
Fredika had one chance only
to regain the passions shared.

The wizened formulas were real enough.
Fredika had practiced on local creatures.
After some mishaps, she had
nearly perfected her concoctions,
the slow moaning songs chilling the heart of
fishermen and gator-poachers, unreal shrieks,
sounds that could not be words,
unless one knew their ancient sounds.

Cyrllic script, Gaellic, and Welsh manuscripts
had she stolen from Gryndyl's cave,
brought to the log house
and fortified there until
they were now only in her mind.

And when Gryndyl finally dared
darken the log-house door,
on the thickest yellow stink-filled mist covered night,
then, only then, with a sip of the long-simmering stew,
Gryndyl might be banished

in exchange for Kathleen, lovely Kathleen
whose tender lips shone like hot peach slices
and were as sweet in Federika's mouth.

A tap, then silence. Gryndyl comes,
enchanted by a perfect curse.
She enters, stooped, black hair matted with bog mud and leeches,
stinking marsh water drips from her rags,
one shoe missing,
slowly. She sits by the fire.

Wordless Federika serves her concoction, with platinum spoon --any other
would dissolve--to Gryndyl's cracked bleeding lips.

Yes, she's taking it. Gryndyl sips.

And Federika begins her slow moaning chant. Omneoh omenoh dogieolo.
dogielol. she continues for what seems endless time.

Gryndyl sinks to the floor. The change begins.

1/14/93 10 min via phone w/ABJW Log Frog Dog Bog Fog

...

...

Continue reading POETRY & SHORT FICTION, Daniel Friedman or select a topic from the closely-related articles below, or see the complete ARTICLE INDEX.

Suggested citation for this web page

Incestuous Sisters at InspectApedia.com - online encyclopedia of building & environmental inspection, testing, diagnosis, repair, & problem prevention advice.

Or see this

INDEX to RELATED ARTICLES: POETRY & SHORT FICTION, Daniel Friedman

Or use the SEARCH BOX found below to Ask a Question or Search InspectApedia

Ask a Question or Search InspectApedia

Try the search box just below, or if you prefer, post a question or comment in the Comments box below and we will respond promptly.

Note: appearance of your Comment below may be delayed: if your comment contains an image, photograph, web link, or text that looks to the software as if it might be a web link, your posting will appear after it has been approved by a moderator. Apologies for the delay.

Only one image can be added per comment but you can post as many comments, and therefore images, as you like.
You will not receive a notification when a response to your question has been posted.
Please bookmark this page to make it easy for you to check back for our response.
Our Comment Box is provided by Countable Web Productions countable.ca

Citations & References

In addition to any citations in the article above, a full list is available on request.

---

ADVERTISEMENT

---