I decided to see if I could put both the trapped and locked out…turned out I could:

 

i am a good girl

blasted bottle said “drink me.”

 

i am a good girl

i do what i am told

in this world of men

iron

ash

and coal dust so invisible

as to stain your cheeks with inky tears

after birth.

 

i am a good girl.

i drink when told to drink

i shrink when told to shrink

become invisible

when iron men reduce my dreams to ash when i reach up to

reach out to

find the box is lidded with glass –

the Cheshire cat grinning through the lid,

revealing the colours of its padded feet

to me

from the lid above.

 

i am a good girl.

i wait to be invited in –

a vampire

cop or

virus

panting at the door

drooling on the welcome mat

 

i am a good girl.

slide me the key under the jamb –

hide it under that sopping mat

so i may come in, too

to join you –

Queen of Hearts.

i see you through that glass lid perched beside ol’ Cheshire again

grinning at me

above me

as i stare into the sloppy welcome mat…

door knob getting farther and farther away from my grasp.

 

if i could only crawl under –

get out of this fucking box shrinking around me

like vacuum-sealed bags for storing old pillows –

but no!

i am a good girl –

too big for this place of men

Queens of Hearts wearing crowns of

iron

and ashes…

too small to hold the key

on my own.

(c) r.l.elke