He keeps time
in the front of his hat,
a clock that ticks sideways
and only when it wants to.
The books beneath him
lean like secrets,
each spine a doorway
he’s already wandered through
and rearranged.
He laughs softly,
as if the world
is a riddle he solved
years ago
and misplaced the answer
on purpose.
His silk hat glows
with borrowed moonlight.
His shadow stretches
longer than logic.
And his smile~
that crooked invitation~
suggests that madness
is simply wonder
without its manners.
If there’s a message,
it’s hidden in the ticking:
time isn’t the master
of Wonderland.
It’s just another guest
at the Hatter’s table,
pouring tea
into the wrong cup
and pretending
it meant to.
There was a young lady named Alice,
Who liked to drink from a chalice.
When she drank her daily tipple,
She would show the boys a nipple
Then wink, out of pure playful malice.
In the children’s ward of a hospital,
Through the W.P.A.*
A 16-panel mural
Was, for patients, on display.
The artist, Abram Champanier,
In 1938,
Took the Lewis Carroll characters
From “Alice” to create
A tale of Wonderland’s whole cast
As they visited each site
Of the city of New York
To fill the children with delight.
So there on Lady Liberty,
The subway and the zoo,
The Empire State and Steeplechase,
Are Alice and her crew.
The building was abandoned
After years and it was marked
For a renovation, so a group
Of volunteers embarked
On a plan to save the murals,
Which they managed to preserve.
Our gratitude is not enough
To give what they deserve.
The restoration took some years
And now they are on view.
A museum** in New York is where
I saw them; so can you.
How wonderful to have a chance
To see each vibrant scene
And to reinforce the joy of art
And how much it can mean.
*Works Progress Administration
**Museum of the City of New York
of fair Alice little was known
rarely seen once she’d grown
up, they say, to be
quite the lovely lady
though once I’m told
years later, when she was old
she was visible by the river at night
a faint whiff of blood, panning for gold
Starring:
Alice
big fall
too tall
The White Rabbit
big date
too late
The Caterpillar
took toke
then spoke
The Cheshire Cat
grin's there
cat's where?
The Mad Hatter
no "buts"
he's nuts
The March Hare
insane
hare-brain
The Dormouse
I'm caught
teapot
The Queen of Hearts
she said
chop head
The Mock Turtle
appears
fake tears
Tweedledee and Tweedledum
dumb guys
bow ties
The Jabberwock
cool talk
J-wock
I was sitting on the corner, stoned
When out of the blue, my dead aunt phoned
How could this be, she rests in peace
Right beside my loving niece
I answered the phone, and my auntie said
"I know you think that I am dead"
"I'm alive"- my auntie moaned
Or- could it be that you're just- "Stoned" by Charles Messina
Niece Alice bakes brownies with magic herbs
She uses rich chocolate, and flour, two thirds
Before Auntie June gets out of bed
Alice feeds the cat and minds his head
She shared a snack and laugh with you
And now you’re happy and Auntie June is too
When auntie asks why your eyes grow and grow
You say “Go ask Alice, I think she’ll know”
rain shine so divine
sprinkle blessings kissings wet ~
feet in leather boots
rain sound patter
mad hatter
Alice in whimper drops
coatless with rabbit ruling
rain shine so divine
plain gain to refrain
from disdain
shimmering sleet
of rain glimmering on street
rainbow sheet covering
fleet neat
Alice opens umbrella ~
________________________
Bronze Winner : Allpoetry Contest
: a 50 word Poem on Rain
April 26
I am not the only settler
who cannot repay his wealth.
I’ve been looking for confusion,
to flout, again.
Take me forward
to the timeless
left.
I love you, through opposites,
Lord Huron.
‘Take Me Back to the Night
We Met,"
Take me forward
to the time
we left.
Which of these is backwards?
Which of these is forwards?
Fiction/nonfiction
Am I exiting?
Am I entering?
Am I timing this reading?
Am I wondering this reason?
Am I finally… in/out
and all about?
Is there reasonable
clout in heaven?
James Barrie, please
whisper to me:
‘This is Neverland!’
Then let me,
believe you.
Find a signed copy after,
and label it:
“Nonfiction!”
“Alice?
Are we home?
-unknown”
Mother was always honest with me
But I wasn't, open to school
Sceard boys don't play with lies
It's a secret sacreard to all
Where is she?
Home with me and others
Then why won't she write
Read, or come up with another
Child, because we are her only
Me & my brother, write Alice, read Alice
Make another answer for those teachers
Andre can't hide you no more
Neither can Quincy, read Alice, write Alice
Go home with them and do as I told you
To do!
Please don't ask why, ask how could they,
In there school, do her like that.
Deep in contemplation, or was it cogitation,
maybe intuition, Alice had a premonition,
something's round the corner,
and she's come to warn yer,
doing all she can, before it hits the fan,
for she has seen a vision, more than a vague suspicion,
it's a strong affirmation of a predetermination,
and believe me when I say,
"Whatever omen she thought she saw,
it's on it's way here today,
and will soon be knocking down your door.
As, mirrored in her eye's mind,
all the portents are aligned,
maybe it's madness or mayhaps fun
there's nowhere to hide, nowhere to run."
Now, somehow, Alice springs eternal,
in the human breast,
and, with my heart on my sleeve,
aren't you glad I got it off my chest.
It's been many months since I saw 'Malice'
In fact, she was hard to recognize
There's a faraway look in her bloodshot eyes
She resembles a Michelin man with loads of spare tires
Her blue and white dress is strained at the seams,
Good god she's put on so much weight
It must be so annoying
that she can't slip through the wormhole
to cause havoc with useless debating.
Perhaps, her ego needs deflating
How I'd love to burst her bubble
after she's caused so much trouble.
I’m strung out on another world —
a woman wired tight.
Music spills from my fingers,
runs down to my toes.
One pill —
and it all slips away.
I tumble down the rabbit hole.
But I’m not Alice.
I’m the Queen of Hearts.
I’m not looking for a way out.
I’m singing all the wrong words,
losing my tempo —
my lyrical lyre
abandoned on the floor.
Still, I burn.
I’ll never forget
sitting beneath that chestnut tree.
I pressed my palms to the bark —
solid, like him.
But I couldn’t hold him.
And the tree couldn’t leave
like he did.
Still, the universe poured into me.
I was flipping through pictures of you
I never took —
snapshots of us
in places we never stood,
lit by a sun
we never touched.
Memories we never made —
but I carry them
like old postcards
from a dream
I forgot to wake from.
In the rain,
you locked your bike
and looked into my eyes.
I was stunned —
it was like staring into the sunrise.
And you —
you fell into mine.
I wasn’t looking for love.
But it hunted me —
something louder
than the scream in my head.
Alice Among the Astral Wonders
From a rabbit hole of wondrous delight,
Alice now ventures to the stars of the night.
Her mission's a clock, a celestial race,
To find lost minutes in time and in space.
The Cheshire Moon grins, a crescent so wide,
As meteors fall in a silvery tide.
She floats past planets of emerald and gold,
A story of space, yet untold.
But a whisper calls from a nebula's haze,
A voice that could launch a thousand space-crazed daze.
It's the Queen of Hearts, with a crown of red bright,
Who holds all the time in the infinite night.
"Off with their heads!" she screams, loud and so clear,
"Those seconds you seek are held captive right here!"
But Alice, unafraid, with her heart full of grace,
Plays a hand of galactic cards in this royal, high space.
A royal flush of nebulae, a straight of bright stars,
She wins back the time that was trapped behind bars.
And with a smile, the Queen bows to the girl,
Who won a new world from the end of the world.
*For Tom Woody contest
Curiouser and curiouser thinks Alice.
Why must I always follow that rabbit?
Last time it didn’t work out well,
I must try to break the habit.
This time they’re on a spaceship
And she’s suddenly floating around.
Ever since they blasted off,
Her feet haven’t touched the ground.
But at least her height remains constant.
No more shrinking then growing.
But where Lewis Caroll is taking her,
There is no way of knowing.
The man in charge is Captain Kirk,
Who seems to be quite potty.
With a top hat with a label on
And a dog he refers to as ‘Scottie’.
They land on a distant planet,
You won’t have heard about,
Discovered by one Charles Dodgson,
With a silly name no doubt.
She steps out from the spaceship,
Wondering what she’ll find.
“That’s one small step for a girl,” she says,
“One giant leap for girlkind.”
She’s met by peculiar characters,
With even sillier names,
Who threaten to chop her head off,
If she doesn’t join in their games.
Then suddenly Alice wakes up.
It’s all been a dream if you please.
And she vows that tomorrow’s supper
Will not be bread and cheese.
The wormhole led them to a desert,
where they could see dunes ahead.
The elf looked at Alice, nodded, and smiled.
She understood what his smile meant.
A few hours later, they stood in front of the dunes
When suddenly sentinels appeared around them.
Alice looked at the elf, and he smiled at her again.
She wondered why he smiled at every encounter.
The elf whispered some words,
The sentinels merged into one another and disintegrated.
He stretched his hand toward the dunes,
and they all flattened out.
Alice's eyes widened in amazement as cacti sparkled like diamonds.
As they approached,
The cacti grew tall and large,
and water gushed out from them,
And Alice and the elf were carried to the shores of an island.
They were lifted by giant birds to a rainbow castle.
There, Alice saw the book of seven seals,
a powerful book that restored the seven lost kingdoms,
where Alice would continue her adventures.
July 21, 2025.
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