Family Values in Hameln
Yoon Ha Lee

It was never about the rats.
Or the payment.
I knew what I was due.

When curfew came and the moon rode high,
I knew what they would do.
The hard hands, the belts.

I played. The children marched away from
the hard hands, the welts.
That's what I say it was.

Their parents tell the other tale.
That's what they say--it was
for the payment.


Yoon Ha Lee's poetry has appeared in Mythic Delirium, Star*Line, The Magazine of Speculative Poetry, Abyss & Apex, and Jabberwocky. She is a section editor at The Internet Review of Science Fiction. She lives in the Boston area with her husband, daughter, and several musical instruments.

She says: And my favorite fruit is grapefruit (but oh, what a difficult question! I love very much fruits).

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