Once upon a time,
Alice lived in a dollhouse.
Petted and polished,
precariously posed,
waiting for someone to move her.
Then she moved herself.
Teacup overflowing,
She expanded while thinking,
Maybe she wasn’t growing,
the world was shrinking.
For years she had been
a killer of time
guzzling from an hourglass.
Then the world said, “Drink me.”
At the end of the rabbit hole subway,
The moon reached in
with arms of light.
She told the white rabbit,
“Better late than never.
Everyone’s deliciously mad here,
But we don’t lose our heads
in this Queen of Hearts city.”
A neon sign greeted
with a Cheshire cat grin:
“Where I end, you begin.”
It’s time to paint the town red
with roses.
Emily Kirchner
Emily is a surrealist illustrator and writer. She is currently pursuing a degree in early childhood education to become a behavioral specialist.