Fairy Tale by M.J. Iuppa

The cottage’s shadow dragged like a moss-covered turtle across 

the front yard and disappeared into the lilacs blooming near 

the rusty gate.  She looked out of the loft’s small window

and watched her mother pinning her scratchy undergarments

to the clothesline’s naked light. She felt ashamed. Poverty

lived everywhere— yet, its remoteness made it impossible to

escape. She knew the flap of bloomers in the bright air would

be noticed by a passerby for its sudden shock of purity.  She

looked at her hands at rest— lines of dirt under her fingernails

revealed her secret work, digging in the garden.

M.J. Iuppa, Director of the Visual & Performing Arts Minor Program and Lecturer in Creative Writing at St. John Fisher College, and a part-time lecturer in Creative Writing at The College at Brockport, was awarded the New York State Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Adjunct Teaching, 2017.