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I struggle to get the food through the door
I am stuck
To the trick
Dirty
Trick
One man holds the ladder
The other paints
They stitched the gun to our hand
Like a leaf
Curled up in the front door
It fits perfectly
Bang
No one spoke
No one looked up
We should have known
Tricky
Tricky
Tricky
Our words like concrete chipped
Compromised
The decision levelled off like dust
Which sticks and blows away
It will always be so
It will always be so
We search for powder
Any powder
As fast as we can run
Such shame
Snuff it out,
Snuff it out! Cries Alice
We can’t breathe
Stuck sticky tricked
No forward
No back
The red van follows
Crown
Record
Management
And we know
We know
The Red Queen
Played us
Dropped us like an egg from the broken window
The blanket sparks
Blue electricity
In the night
Like a pulse
Bzz
We are stuck
Ticker tape screaming
Tears making the scissors impossible to hold
We are stitched to the gun
To the Red Queen
Stuck sticky tricked
I see her.
We are not real and too real
I don’t know what to say to her
I don’t know how to stop her crying
We hang our heads
Hang ourselves
It’s just us I say to Alice
Just us.
There are so many lines in this piece that speak to me,
ReplyDelete"Dropped us like an egg from the broken window" This metaphor of an egg dropped from a high place has always meant something to me. "Tears making the scissors impossible to hold" - many times over "It’s just us I say to Alice
Just us." - and so it is "just us",,,,so well done,,,
That last stanza--such a sad, but perfect image of isolation. Well-written, especially the way you play with the sounds: stuck, sticky, ticker, tricked, etc. These words fit the overall feeling of the poem so well.
ReplyDeleteThank you very much Ellecee..all little eggs need a safe shelf to sit on...
ReplyDeleteThank you Nico...the election coverage made me think of ticker tape parades..which made me think of Regina Spektor..who sings about ticker tape parades..but gives it a sound...which i stole..shh..
I like the glimmer of hope in the end... that we're not alone ever.
ReplyDeleteThank you Laurie..(loving the new profile pic..good to see you!)
ReplyDeleteThe repetition has so much meaning in this piece, especially if strung together with past Alice pieces. Strong, this voice, while simultaneously seeming defeated. How do you do that, Jae? Brilliant writing.
ReplyDeleteThe sadness and isolation in the last stanza feels like hands open, palms up, willing and available, unreachable.
Lost hope. I hope not.
I hope Alice has stopped crying now.
ReplyDeleteI know this is all metaphor and yet, isn't at all. So fragile, and yet as hard as nails to have survived the trip through Alice's mirror and into the madness of her Wonderland.
Sad Jae, yet exquisite for the beauty of the pain.
Thank you ..thank you Kim..I don't know...but I would sacrifice the words to not know how it feels to be strong (in the wrong ways)..and defeated..
ReplyDeleteThank you Daydreamer..for seeing real..even nails get rusty and fall out..if only I didn't carry a hammer..perhaps j is her own red queen..
It's good that Alice can now know she is not alone.Strength is in surviving.
ReplyDeleteJae..the magician..magical words..I don't know where all I fell..to get up again and to catch and then to stop and wonder..
ReplyDeleteGod bless you Jae!!!! But then you do it week after week..
RS:)
This is a nice tale of strength and perseverance ... loved the way you pulled up this story !!!
ReplyDeleteI repeat "it will always be so" all too often these days.
ReplyDeleteJust us, and no justice. This one blows me away.
ReplyDeleteThis is the saddest piece you have ever written Jae. There has been laughter and hurt and mystery before but never such tears shed so emotively. You must be strong to protect Alice, you can do it.
ReplyDeleteBoth not real and too real.....I GET that. Not an easy place to be.
ReplyDeleteStuck to the Red Queen, and yet she dropped you. We often find ourselves stuck to those who let us down, even if it is only our own minds that stay stuck.
ReplyDeleteTrue enough..thank you Sheilagh..
ReplyDeleteThank you Ramesh..good wishes back..
Thanks very much Green Speck..
But hopefully in a good way? Thanks Ben..
Aha..you spotted..thank you Alice.. ;)
We will look out for each other..I hope..thanks Old Egg..
No..indeed not..hopefully it will go..thanks Mary..
The mind is the biggest trickster..thank you Ann..
That red van was around before in one of your poems. Sounds like an official van. I reckon you and Alice are on the run from the Red Queen in the red van.
ReplyDeleteCrime: wearing pink satin ballet pumps in a public place:)
The mind is the biggest trickster...especially mine:)
Rallentanda
If only pink satin ballet pumps..I remember the smell of new ones..these days it's big old brown boots..all the better for kicking..not that girls should kick..( a- hem) thank you Rallentanda..
ReplyDeletepoor Alice. I itch to find the words to help stop her cries. the last stanza has left me a bit sad.
ReplyDeleteMe too..thank you RMP..let's start with tissues and cup of tea..see if that helps her..
ReplyDeleteOh no? I hope I have not been a negative influence on you
ReplyDelete(boot kicking)
Good for you!
Pas de tout Rallentanda.. ;) scrappy since conception..
ReplyDeleteThere are times when I read your stuff - and trust me, I don't do it nearly enough - and I think, "Why can't I put such things together?" You've a way of writing like a song.
ReplyDeleteThank you very much Thom..always good to see you..a compliment indeed..you'd be thankful I don't sing..
ReplyDeleteThis is an amazing piece. I should get used to you by now, but still you amze! It is gold, hard, shiny, and it is your's.
ReplyDeleteThank you very much Annell..golden thoughts back.. x
ReplyDelete