OOPS! I FELL DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE

oops! I fell down the rabbit hole
in my poem
Hello Alice, lovely dress the
perfect shade of blue I
was sent to warn you
I wish I could have
warned myself

now we're plummeting

past the Rabbit's
bookshelves
stop! I want to
read the titles so
I can find them
when I wake up...

there's going to be

a tea party - you'll
be sitting at the
table in your party dress
but you won't feel invited
despite the pink cake
in the middle of the table;

you won't get a slice
no matter how nicely you pour tea;
you ask too many questions
and you won't have a moment

to yourself. even if you cry,
other people will utilize
your tears on the spot this is

that kind of dream: you
can't wake up when you want to,
dear.

but the door to the garden,

once you get through-
just stay: on the still point of
a turning world that makes no sense;
like a jewel-box ballerina when
the music ends 

remaining you by barely breathing

so that at the last
you'll be
unperceived and bounce yourself

right out of

their fantastic, false rose frieze

mary angela douglas february 2008;13 june 2022