She plays in the night
Whirling
Swirling
Molecules
In our tea
Fire in the hold
Shouts spider to the crow
Why are you a pirate
I ask
Because we are all at sea
Silly
Go back to sleep
I have to find land
Wonderland
She giggles and burps
I can’t begrudge her
Flight away from this
I roll over
Be sure to find the sun
Aye, aye captain
You learnt a new emotion
Sigh
I can’t
Sleep
Speak
Only hammer
Black nails in the coffin
One by one
Pull my hair
Like I did
In the room with no handles
If I pull hard enough
My existence will unravel
Cobbles and stones
Uneven terrain
It has already unravelled
Hit the gravel
Bang the gavel
She babbles
She is curled up on the bed
Tired
Hair sticky stuck to her head
On the fringe
Clumsy
Rum barrelled
Falling
Out to sea
Perhaps in the morning
I will sound the alarm
Please do she croaks
No longer able to beg
I touch her poppy finger nails
Too many nights
Picking
Worrying
Wearing out
Our
Skin
Skein
Where to begin
If we pull
What will we lose
Look around
There is nothing
We are all make believe
Invisible
Buzz buzz
Electric current
No wasps or cakes or tea
Me
I chew my fingers
Think
There is a file
Thick as butter
Broken bricks
Letters and words
None of it describes
You and me
Land ahoy
She mumbles
We
Sink sink sink
Into dreams.
What great word pictures you create Jae. Like Alice I too try to find wonderland when I sleep. I think that is the importance of knowing we are alive for if we aren't no one can see us which is whole point of being. I like to think of other people and doing that someone probably thinks of me too.
ReplyDeleteBut of course...we exist right here and now...connected...even if only by internet waves...and yes finding wonderland in our sleep is most delightful - thank you kindly Old Egg
DeleteI like Alice's logic to play pirate :)...."Look around / There is nothing / We are all make believe" our dream like existence in this world is well captivated....
ReplyDeleteThank you very much Sumana - oddly I think Alice shows us reality a little more accurately than j :)
DeleteAlice does live!
ReplyDeleteThat she does - in her own special way - thank you kindly Gail
DeleteI love your Alice tales. I seem to connect with them. Is Alice a little off? I am. Teasing.
DeleteThanks for reading. This was my first fable and it was enjoyable.
I think we're both a little 'off' but sometimes that's ok! Thank you Gail
DeletePirate! We are rough men, rough! (says grandson George).
ReplyDeleteWe are all make believe. But no cakes? Really?
I know - fruit cake would be ideal on a pirate ship..it lasts forever! Thank you J Cosmo (and George!)
DeleteThat's what we are..molecules swirling around in a giant tea cup.!!
ReplyDeleteQuite so! Thank you kindly thotpurge
DeleteGripped me through right to the end. A wonderful poem.
ReplyDeleteThank you very much Marilyn
DeleteTo me the dreams are very much like hope. We search for something that we can't control... A wonderland perhaps... Too often there are too much of the queen of heart and less of friends in my dreams.
ReplyDeleteThank you Bjorn - yes dreams are an escape, a way of processing and more often than not red queens prevail - maybe that means our real friends are the ones who are there when we are awake
Delete"Why are you a pirate
ReplyDeletebecause we are all at sea" : haha!
thought the ride will be fun and raucous, but then the journey turned hairy, but hey, looks like no one abandon ship. :)
I fear the ride may always be hairy - thank you kindly ds...and yes...no one has abandoned ship quite yet
Delete"Pull my hair
ReplyDeleteLike I did
In the room with no handles"
These three lines are the things terror is made of. I can see the trapped person, hear the screams... terrifying!
It was indeed a terrifying place...thank you kindly Magaly
DeleteCobbles and stones
ReplyDeleteUneven terrain
These images somehow make me think how life is like an uneven terrain.. we never know how smooth our journey will be. Beautifully executed.
Lots of love,
Sanaa
Exactly - what looks like a smooth path can trip us up unawares...thank you very much Sanaa
DeleteFire in the hold
ReplyDeleteshouts spider to the crow
Caw! Caw! Caw!
And caw caw in return - thank you for hearing
DeleteDreams offer an outlet. But it is certainly good to be feeling alive.
ReplyDeleteHank
Perfectly put Hank - we await those little alive moments with anticipation ..thank you
DeleteFire in the hold
ReplyDeleteshouts spider to the crow
Love it! Spider (writer) and crow (higher law). But, I must warn you, there are always knots in that unraveling and the harder you pull, the tighter they become. Writing can loosen them, or you might use the knots to climb the rope out of the hold and into that higher law. Really like what you are doing,
Elizabeth
Thank you again Elizabeth for explaining and both untangling and explaining the benefits of a secure knot...perhaps we have to do one until we are ready to do the other - but that you know I am sure...
Delete"If I pull hard enough
ReplyDeleteMy existence will unravel"
Hair! OMG! I remember being taught that if I didn't tie a knot at the end of a sentence my words would unravel--but a life, a person, yes! I can see it as knit together. My niece in law has such patience and perfectionism, she often unravels what she knits and crochets in order to correct minor errors--to the point where I have come to see unraveling, patience, and persistence as the model. I made a doll once, full of those errors that now show "character." Oh, may the people who confine this narrator stop trying. Let her grow!
Thank you for that wish Susan..i hadn't thought of unpicking as perfectionism...rather destruction..Stitch...sew..mend...bury...perhaps the narrator needs to let herself grow and put that tangle to one side for a while..hmm
Delete'We are all make believe....invisible'. How true that is. Do I exist? You only have my word for it. Do you exist? Or has Alice made you up?
ReplyDeleteVisit Keith's Ramblings!
Oh the latter for sure...I won't be here in 150 years but Alice will be by somebody's side..or maybe she will be free and creating her own wonderland...a fun one..yes..that's a better wish...if you can think of it it exists..but that infers the thinker exists too...now my head hurts...time for cake and tea! We cordially invite you..to make certain you are real!
DeleteThe world is indeed unraveling so we must find our wonderland in our dreams, mustn't we...clever Alice.
ReplyDeleteYes however our world unravels thankfully we have our dreams...a place to be safe..and explore and be free...thank you kindly Donna
DeleteOh, sweet dreams. You used all the words so well! I especially noticed the ones, I couldn't find a place for! xoxoxoxohugs
ReplyDeleteThank you most sweetly Annell ...maybe yours popped up here! Do you recognise the little dolly ;) she sits on my bookshelf xo
DeleteI love the lights in your photo - and the doll. Alice is very playful in this piece - love that she is a pirate "because we are all at sea". I do love the sinking into dreams. Thank heavens there are dreams!
ReplyDeleteOh yes best part of the day is sinking into bed and hopefully good dreams..she was quite playful wasn't she! Maybe she likes the coloured lights...thank you kindly Sherry
DeleteI really like this poem. I love it's structure, the broken lines. That line about not being able to speak is just perfect. It reminds me of T.S. Eliot. Great job!
ReplyDeleteThank you very much Matthew... I am not sure we are as clever as T.S. Eliot but we do like cats... ;)
DeleteWe are all truly at sea therefore, we are all pirates! Yoho Caw caw caw. Fruitcake laced with much rum to help us to our own wonderland. Playful but yet, with a frisson of fright in this.
ReplyDeleteThank you kindly Toni - and for entering into the spirit! maybe the best adventures have a frisson of fright
DeleteAnother adventure down that rabbit hole...in the dreamscape who is to say what is real and what is imaginary ...I often get lost inside my head at night and that is ok with me as I travel to wonderful places. Resting my head on my pillow sinking into a wonderland.
ReplyDeleteLook around
There is nothing
We are all make believe
What a lovely comment - yes the sink into dreams we can be very good indeed - thank you Truedessa
Deletethe way you paint with words ... sigh ...the intermingling of stream of consciousness, reality and dreams is really, quite brilliantly rendered.
ReplyDeleteThank you very much Wendy - much appreciated
DeleteSuch a fun adventure of form! Child's play, imagination is the best remedy. I could feel the weight of that worry, though. Loved the 'poppy fingernails', such a cute expression. Thanks for the read!
ReplyDeleteThank you too... I liked that poppy finger nails appealed to you...apart from the bad reasons fingers may turn red...it made me think of paining on pretend nail varnish..imagination is indeed a life raft
DeleteA pirate poem ...walking the plank, eye patches,rum breath ,bad teeth, weevils in he ships biscuits. Rats always leave the sinking ship well in advance...how do they know? Rats know everything:)
ReplyDeleteRats do indeed know everything and I love them for that (my two ratties keep me afloat) thank you kindly Cressida :)
Delete"We are all make believe"
ReplyDeleteSometimes I believe that!
Clumsy Attempts
I think it's a rational and honest belief! Thank you kindly Magical
DeleteA voyage into dreamland, or the sinking into a drug-fuelled oblivion? Reminds me of sleepless nights where both my body and brain are so full of energy that sleep eludes me till morning.
ReplyDeleteThank you Nicholas for your perceptive comment - the latter more than the former perhaps..of course you see..and thank you for that..and oh for a brain which comes with an off switch!
DeleteI liked this so much. Your images into nonexistence, the pull of various forces, the mix of fantasy and real pain. As always, a superb poem Jae.
ReplyDeleteImages into nonexistence - what a perfect description..and the wish we cannot voice - thank you kindly Myrna
DeleteEach week as I visit and read your fantastically surreal poetry I become more and more enchanted ... I love to finally fall asleep and wander through the world of dreams ... and your poetry is beautiful with all the elements of dreams. Bastet
ReplyDeleteThank you so much Bastet - yes dreams can be a wonderful place to live...as long as they don't verge into nightmare...we are very pleased that you are enchanted...and sweet dreams! Full of proper candy, sugar and stars
Delete