The hunger, and the knife: 1 question for Carrie Shipers

About that brother-sister thing in Carrie Shipers's new poem "Appetite":

"Appetite" starts off in something like familiar fairy-tale territory, but in the woods things take a violent turn. Tell us about bringing to the surface the brutality that seems to lurk in every such story.

I’ve always been interested in what happens after the official story ends, how people cope with the repercussions of strange or traumatic experiences. When Hansel and Gretel escape the witch, it’s supposed to be a happy ending, but I found myself wondering how they, especially Gretel, who’s responsible for the witch’s death, might have been affected. In this poem, Hansel’s downfall is that he really hasn’t changed: he’s still the greedy little boy who likes to eat. Gretel, on the other hand, has learned perhaps too much from her captivity: she knows that sometimes, drastic action is required to ensure survival. And on a lighter note, I like that she’s handy with a knife, a quality she and I have in common.