Advice to Little Red Riding Hood
by and published in Edition Four of Pomegranate
Count slowly to ten.
Know that the trees,
though they interlace their fingers
suspensefully, ask for nothing.
Always remember to breathe.
Let the shadows of the forest
make patterns upon you;
hold the tender column of your spine
as if you would grow green with leaves.
Before the belly of the wolf,
admire the size of his teeth,
the intensity of his hunger,
your own perfect redness
for battle,
holding in your hands
the fervid brightness of flowers,
all the things your grandmother
forgot to tell you about wolves.
Rebecca Varley-Winter
Rebecca Varley-Winter was born in London in 1986, then moved to the Isle of Wight when she was eleven. She was a runner-up in the Foyle Young Poets of the Year Awards 2004, and is currently in her final year studying English at Clare College, Cambridge. She started writing poetry seriously when she was 16; she also like music festivals, night walks, and places with views at the top of them.