Wonderland
A tribute to Lewis Carroll's enduring book and an entry for Ellie Hoovs' Unofficial Wonderland Poetry Prompt Challenge
I remember our first encounter:
I was suitably unsettled.
A cartoon of technicolour proportions
To excite the mind with a taste of wonder.
Grinning cat, fading to vapour.
Caterpillar, like Noel Coward, smoking
On a toadstool.
Run, rabbit, run!
To the tick of your pocket watch.
And down that hole I tumbled.
Your vision both delighted and disturbed:
Benign tea party guests who riddle and vex?
Cards as courtiers in courts with weak ceilings?
And last?
Queens with the power to lop off your head?
Totally absurd!
And yet history shows not an absurdity at all
Although marginally more regally considered.
Disney, first. Then, the words in their raw form -
Carroll-esque.
Slippery to grasp, drifting like smoke rings.
No sense in nonsense and my brain wanted to right it.
Little doors - fun.
Hedgehogs for croquet - fun.
Potions to drink - fun.
But there is madness here and I feel its looseness
On every page.
And yet...
Madness is inspirational!
Arthur Rackham, Tim Burton -
They took us a-Carrolling!
And what enduring images have emerged!
Alice is seared on me, like a dodgy tattoo
Its madness just short of making me a hatter.
***
You can read all about Ellie's challenge here:
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