Wonderland II: The Hatter's Tale

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Originally published: 23rd December 2019

Image by gR

This poem was placed 1st in the "STRAND SPECIAL II any theme any form" contest sponsored by Brian Strand (Judged 27th January 2020)

With my thanks and apologies to Lewis Carroll and Geoffrey Chaucer.

THE WONDERLAND SERIES

I: Prologue
II: The Hatter's Tale
III: The Watchmaker's Tale
IV: The Hairdresser's Tale
V: The Chef's Tale
VI: The Sailor's Tale
VII: The Preacher's Tale
VIII: Conclusion

Morning At Work

Impaired by his tremors
And a troublesome cough,
He turned fur into felt
Before cooling things off.

He drooled once or twice
And grew cold in his bones,
But he shaped all the felt
Into all of the cones.


Noon

His 'venomous vipers'
Grew restless again
And woke as the toxins
Played games with his brain.

He began to see strange things
And quickly grew scared
When the writing desk swooped
Like a ravenous bird.

Aware that his dark mind
Was now playing tricks,
He quit work forever
At ten shillings past six.


Night

He sat in The Tabard
Where he found time to think.
His skin had turned orange
As he drowned in his drink.
 
He recalled the sad day
His wife took off her ring
And with her cards on the table
Left to marry a king.

He pined for his daughter
And the party he'd planned
But she followed her mother
To that far-away land.


Later That Night

While carrying a tea tray
Upstairs to his bed
He tripped over his hat
He'd shook off with his head.

He finally came to 
Around six the next night
But from that moment on
All his world was not right.

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John Watt

Date: 7/18/2022 10:54:00 PM

Kind of chilling to observe the Hatteras slow descent into madness, especially as he senses it happening. I enjoyed the subtle reference to "off with his head", very clever indeed. As an aside: here's a testimonial to the powerovertime! thanks to the John Tenniel I llustrations, I just can't read about the mad hatter without picturing him as a skinny fellow with a crooked nose and pronounced overbite wearing a top hat reading "in this style 10/6"!

Gary Radice
Date: 7/19/2022 6:09:00 AM

John, I love John Tenniel's illustrations! It was a picture of his Mad Hatter on an old biscuit tin (that I found in our shed) that gave me the idea of making up some back stories for the Wonderland / Looking Glass characters. :) The mercurous nitrate , used in curing felt for hats was reported to turn people 'mad'. Tremors, neurological changes, coughing are just a few symptoms of mercury poisoning..It must have been terrible for those making hats back in the day. If that wasn't bad enough I also inflicted a head injury on this poor character. I love the 10 shillings and sixpence on The hat that signifies the cost of it - You probably noticed I played around with those numbers when describing the time he left work. The Raven (ravenous) and Writing Desk also make an appearance :) Cheers - Gary

Linda Alice Fowler

Date: 10/25/2020 6:26:00 AM

Beautifully penned Gary. Linda

Gary Radice
Date: 10/25/2020 9:51:00 AM

Thanks Linda! I loved exploring an idea behind The Mad Hatter, his wife (who may or may not have been The Queen Of Hearts) and his daughter (who may or may not have been Alice) :) Cheers - Gary

Line Gauthier

Date: 4/19/2020 9:49:00 PM

Well penned poem, Gary. Love the presentation of it. Bravo.

Gary Radice
Date: 4/28/2020 5:55:00 AM

Thank you Line! :) I really appreciate your comments.

Brenda Chiri

Date: 12/29/2019 4:14:00 PM

Gary congrats on your top win!;)

Gary Radice
Date: 12/30/2019 3:02:00 AM

Thank you Brenda..And you, yours. :)