It starts with a girl and a wicked pair of shoes

That she swiped from her father’s closet.

It starts with slicked back hair and a video of Presley

Twisting away for the girls who saw it.

“Wouldn’t you rather some nice disco music,” said her mother with grief.

“Or perhaps some dolls to play with,” said her father real brief.

“I think I’ll stay this way, thank you very much,”

Said the little girl in the red riding hood

Covered with rhinestones, like her hero Elvis.

“Whatever you do,” said her friend Isabelle,

“Don’t wear your capes in the forest.

I’ve heard of bad things, awful things, WICKED things

happening to girls in Red Riding Hoods.”

The girl could not understand why not one person

Liked her blue suede shoes or her red riding hood,

But she liked bopping and twisting to music five times her age,

Hoping maybe one day, she’d be understood.

Maybe, she thought, I should Jive in the Jungle,

flee to the forest, and twist with the trees.

With a palm full of pomade and spectacular spectacles,

The girl decided to make a Heartbreak Hotel,

At her Grandma Priscilla’s on the edge of the forest.

Not ten feet in and she heard a rustling

From the bushes, howling like a hound dog.

“Where are you going, little girl?”

She spun and heard a snicker, sound without a face.

“To see Grandma Priscilla,” she said in a whirl.

Seeking the maker of snickers, she stood there paralyzed.

“I like your little red riding hood,” she heard through a bright grin.

“Don’t be cruel,” she demanded, making her self arise,

 “Go on then,” said the low growl, “I smell T-R-O-U-B-L-E.”

She slicked her hair, shone her shoes, and continued through

the thick green forest under the blue moon,

but after confident strides and a couple of slips,

she was tempted to hurry back home and end this trip.

Finally she found the creaky old cabin where her nana stayed.

She rapped on the door and heard a stifled stirring.

“Let me in,” shouted the little girl, “I’m all shook up, I’m afraid!”

“Of course, my dear,” said her grandmother in a strange voice.

The girl in the Red Riding Hood stared into the open door,

Her mind suspicious, recognizing the bright grin.

“Why Grandma,” said the little girl, “What big teeth you have!”

“To eat like teeth are out of style,” she remarked quickly.

“But Grandma Priscilla,” the girl took a step back. “What big HANDS you have!”

“To give you a big-a hunk o’ love!” shouted her grandma with a lunge forward.

“And Grandma, what big feet you have!”

The little girl flew past her grandma’s wide arms.

“Well that,” she concluded, “Is to do the twist!”

Her grandma moved with moves the girl never saw before!

She jumped and jiggied like her hero Presley, and the girl knew once more.

Through the dress and the slippers, she saw tufts of fur,

Just like the Big Bad Wolf who loved Riding Hoods like hers!

“You’re the Devil in disguise!” said the girl, pulling her grandma’s dress.

The girl turned to run away, but froze with pity.

“Please!” cried the wolf. “I love you!”

The girl stepped close again, and the wolf continued,

“You walk like an angel, talk like an angel.”

“And you dance like the King!” she shouted with glee.

Finally, she thought, someone understood!

From that day she knew about the Wolf named the King,

Who loved red riding hoods

Covered with rhinestones, like her hero Elvis.