The wolves wait in the bushes
Eyes aglow
Shining red like rubies in the smoke
Alice stole the red coat
From the little girl who got lost
It flows gently around her shoulders
I carry the basket
Make a trail with petals and branches
We know not to go in the house
The trees and leaves will be our roof tonight
If we get hungry we will eat berries
Quench our thirst with water from the crystal blue stream
The forest holds many secrets
Perhaps we need an axe to see them
She squeals
The rain gently brushes our face
Alice lifts the hood of the cape
I let my hair get wet
It is soothing
Like a tear slowly falling
The wolves do not frighten us
Their eyes light a path
Follow us
Keep us safe
There is no surer thing than to be hunted
This is a magic land
A tumble through the pages of a dusty story
When it gets dark we can turn back home
Take off the red cloak
Make a note of our adventure
Try to explain how we travelled in our mind
But stayed still in our bodies
I think I would have preferred the red shoes
She says
If we pluck the eyes from the wolves
Maybe we can make a pair
But that's a different story
Another adventure
Another lost girl
We find our feet
Walk in the door
Sleep peacefully in the red bed
The dark forest and wolves behind us.
The Alice scenario is perfect to convey your poetic motif. I always enjoy your unique depictions
ReplyDeleteThis is incredibly riveting, Jae!❤️ Especially love; "The trees and leaves will be our roof tonight/If we get hungry we will eat berries/Quench our thirst with water from the crystal blue stream," such vivid and beautiful imagery here. Thank you so much for writing to the prompt!❤️
ReplyDeleteI love the use of the colour red in this poem, Jae, and the way you’ve played with old stories and brought them back to life in a new Alice poem. I especially love the lines:
ReplyDelete‘A tumble through the pages of a dusty story
When it gets dark we can turn back home
Take off the red cloak
Make a note of our adventure’
and
‘We find our feet
Walk in the door
Sleep peacefully in the red bed
The dark forest and wolves behind us.’
So Alice can be Red Riding Hood and if she steals the Ruby eyes of the Wolf can become Dorothy too. I loved this "There is no surer thing than to be hunted" that feeling of eyes watching you. I like how the stories are pulled right off their pages and then we end up safely back home in bed again. It's amazing where books and adventure can take us.
ReplyDeleteWhat a delight to read this poem in your beautiful and unique literary style Jae for the readerget absorbed into the narrative and becomes part of the verse themselves.
ReplyDeleteWhat a delightful adventure with Alice; plus you managed to avoid the wolves and get home safe. How wonderful imagination is to experience all this excitement and still snuggle up in the red bed in the end.
ReplyDeleteI love how you fit Alice into the story... the comfort in being hunted... knowing that in the end it's travelling in the mind... but I beg you, beware of the red shoes.
ReplyDeleteI love the red wolf eyes lighting the way, and how you journeyed while your bodies stayed still.
ReplyDeleteLost girls may have much in common but they go through their adventures in their own way. Alice wears the cape with her own flair.
ReplyDelete“The wolves wait in the bushes
ReplyDeleteEyes aglow shining red like rubies in the smoke”
“There is no surer thing than to be hunted
This is a magic land
A tumble through the pages of a dusty story”
Wow! Vivid images, and a nod to Red Riding Hood, and Dorothy’s ruby slippers. Wonderful!