Classic mum-in-law she was, Ma Grendl:
mood scorpio, wirehaired, snagged in the trap
of always having been a loving much-
beloved mum, no more—suddenly stuck
on the wrong side of the story: Beast.
Creeping through Hero’s brackish fits & tweets,
she’s damp of neck, bent of knee, tarsals
swollen thick as trees. The They all cheered
when bold boy knight raised golden mead
in the mouldering hall: Death to the green-
clawed she-fiend, brine wolf, long of tooth
ragged hag, may she fall! Defeat—
she who by her own kind, in her own time,
was called mama, milady, ma’am. Goddamn.
(Editors’ Note: “Sonnet for the Aglæcwif” is read by Joy Piedmont on the Uncanny Magazine Podcast, 41A.)
© 2021 Minal Hajratwala
