Brittany Warman

L’Unicorne Qui S’Endort:
Bestiaire d’amour (fr. 1951, Folio 14r, Bibliotheque National de France) –

There is a certain inevitability
to the death of a unicorn.

Lured in by a caged, bleeding voice,
we have
a reluctance to be wary, to accept
the pitiful ugliness
waiting always under beauty.

We are slain every time,
we unicorns.

Brittany Warman is a PhD student in English and Folklore at The Ohio State University, where she concentrates on the intersection of folklore and literature, particularly fairy tale retellings. Her creative work has appeared in Stone Telling, Mythic Delirium, Jabberwocky, Cabinet des Fées, Ideomancer, and others.