My First Contest Entry

I wrote this in 45 minutes for a contest held by "Passwords," a literary magazine at Pomona College. The prompt was "happy ending." Ew.


Fairy FAIL


The princess finally reached the top of the tower
She’d been climbing the stairs for over an hour
A fantastic view was her handsome reward
But after a while she became bored
She turned to leave with a dramatic sigh
When she saw a spyglass out of the corner of her eye
Intrigued, she walked up to the viewing spot
But when she looked through the eye hole she couldn’t see squat
Then she found a coin slot that said “twenty five cents”
So she searched in her purse, she’d spare no expense
When she found no quarters she let out a shriek
This was the last straw, it was a terrible week
No sooner had her shriek faded into the breeze
Than a prince on a horse shot out of the trees
He rushed toward the tower, yelling “I’ll save you!”
The princess shook her head, he hadn’t a clue.
She tried gesturing wildly to get him to stop
But he just got there faster, then raced to the top
She tried all she could to push him away
But he intended to “save” her and marry her that day
There’s no happy ending, the future looked bleak
Just a horrible ending to a terrible week