ANTICIPATING ALICE

She had never held her head
like this before
left tilt with a lilt
Nor noise had ever bothered her
now it did
Requiems of pride
paraded down the alleyways
of her mind
She was absorbed suffocated
and totally blissful to the world

This was her day
and she knew not why
Edginess melted into soft corners
as the mosaic
pulled its way together
She was floating
yet going nowhere
as the pink in her skin pulsed
pupils dilated
to the pure blue light

This was her stop
she had to get-off
But the bus just chugged on
Past places she had read about
but never visited
Past vistas of old memory
she could not have had

This was no ordinary trip
home from school
Alice felt the urge to jump
to negotiate the perils
of the footpath
and she did .

Immediately
she felt her head straighten
and the noise subside to silence
Everything was exactly
the way she left it
But totally different

There was no border
between the table and chairs
Lounges melted into rugs
The TV did not sit
in it’s screen
The cat moved as if a snow-ball
Voices were heard
down the back alley
She couldn’t make out
what they were saying
for they too melted
into the corners and cracks
of the glorious mosaic

Lying there for the longest moment
trying to stand
as vertigo spun the room
but not her head
for she was anchored
in the melting carpet.

The only thing
she knew for sure -
was that she was born here
once before.

Striding out the door
to beckon the dawn
her feet bounded
on springs of time

Years on … Lady Alice
was easier to make
than a peanut butter sandwich
warmly wrapped
in a blanket of self pity
Wearing her holiday figure
of flatulence
a body blob of cellulite
tied up with suppose
and sensible heels
Her image to the world
KHAKI!