Belly

She rolls onto her belly
The edges of her form
Floating and soft
Like butter on bread
The kettle bubbles quietly
Just in time for tea
Tea will be wanted
Well worth waiting for
We will open up the gates
Light the fire
Forge a welcome for Hatter
He is funny
She chuckles
I wonder what would happen
If he lost his hat
I pour the tea
Swallow the sweet sugary brew
It makes my head spin
Alice sits up
Yawns
Stretches her arms
Ready for the next chapter
I turn the pages of our book
Mark out the words
In red ink
The paper feels special
Our writing too dull to do it favours
We need a spark
A good start
One day it will come
We just have to keep trying.

Unexpected

Well that was unexpected
Shrieks Alice
The sunlight dapples her cheeks
The postman delivers the post
The flowers take a turn
Fall like silver on a thermometer
We do not want to lose their petals
The colour filled us up
Just like cake
Or tea
The Red Queen is painting her house blue
It seems dark
But she will light it up
We miss seeing her
And Hatter
Slowly
Slowly
Life takes shape again
We preferred the quiet
It was easier to understand
People make things confusing
Rushing like Rabbit
Speaking nonsense like the Cheshire Cat
We have no choice but to join in
It is how you survive
She says
Licking her sticky fingers
Keep your expectations low
And something magical might just happen.

Dusty

Her lips bruise mine
Gentle butterfly kisses
Like corn dancing
In a dusty field
The sun light brushes the page
Weightless like music
A fiddle trilling
A full bar
My joints ache
Too many hours
Scrunched up
Not thinking
Rather
Trying not to think
Running as fast as I can
From the wedding
You really are curious
She giggles
You run but lie still
How will you ever leave this stuck place
Unless you move
She skips and dances
Free as a rainbow
I am too tired
Worn down
To join in
I would like time to stop
Go back
Make different choices
But events have already been
Written in the sky
You can puff them away like clouds
She blows
Like puffing out a birthday candle
I smile
And reach for her hand.

Succeed

When all else fails
I turn to Alice
Skip through windows
Tear down doors
And jump through mirrors
Of course
We giggle about our adventures
They really have not been pretty
All the rooms we have been locked in
Being locked in our head
The potions we drank
The cake they made us eat
It really was a dark kind of
Tea party
Nobody touches us now
I think they gave up
She whispers
Me too little cricket
Me too
In a way it is better
We do not expect the world now
And it does not expect us either
There is comfort in that
A relief
We will always skip
Trip
Fall
And pour out our successes
On paper.

Daughter

Her name is brave
Fiery chips of soot
Muttering on her tongue
I give her due reverence
And she shudders
We pause the choke hold
Separate
I am hers
And she is mine
We cannot travel to the other's homeland
We pass like ships in the night
She giggles
If I ever have a daughter
I would like her to be just like you
I say
Strong
Wise
Knowing
Not pretty and sweet
She says
That too
Perhaps
I think strength is worth more than pretty
She ponders
My brave little soul.

Music

The music plays under a sky full of stars
Alice sings along
Her voice sweet as sugar
I tap my foot
In time to her trills
We have a song for each frozen moment
As if our feelings
And being
Are captured
The playlist changes
We have a tune to get us through
One thing
Then another comes along
But we are lucky to have them
It is like chapters
Built up to a story
An electricity
And a prayer
I hope she does not stop singing
Even when the stars fail to shine
Perhaps the noise keeps them shining
Perhaps the music let's us see
It really is a wonderful
Synchronicity
Feelings
Music
Words.

Foremothers

We learnt our lessons from our foremothers
They took root
Like string
In the lines of our realm
They send healing thoughts
It unfolds like a spirit
In our heart
We try to absorb their wisdom
Let the wind from the coast
Caress our face
Time is slippery
A distant memory
We try to hold each day
But they fall from our hands
You can't hold memories
Silly
They are not made of concrete
They are not tea and cake
How lovely that would be
We hold our tummies and groan
Nothing fills us up
But we are huge
Tomorrow should be a special day
She whispers
I pretend not to hear
Part of me wishes we could just sleep through
Forget about all our losses
And sorrow
But we will wake up
We always do
Trip
Skip
Fall
We hope there will always be someone
Able to help us up.

Stopping

It only takes a little bit of self discipline to stop
It is your hand that picks up the bottle
And pours
You make it sound so easy
It is
Silly
You have stopped many bad things before
I stop and think
She is right
Of course
Perhaps I am scared
Perhaps I am lazy
But it feels so hard to lose
It is like a friend
A time killer
Familiar
Safe
In a strange way
What will I fill my days with
Words and pictures
She replies
How nice that would be
To get lost in a story
Follow my lead
She giggles
I will leave the bottle
For a while
Stopping has to be little by little
I decide.