Alice in Darkness

Forget tears. Chasing
white animals with timepieces
in this drug-trip landscape
can only lead to more of same.
Hedgehogs, playing cards, paintbrushes:
full of undisclosed danger.
Didn’t your mother tell you
not to kiss strangers?
That Cheshire smile shouldn’t fool you.
Pull your skirt down.
Your nails are growing so fast
you’re hardly human.
Alice, fight your version of Bedlam
as long as you can.
Sleep the sweet dream away
from that gooey looking glass, or mushrooms,
or the fear of your own body.
Forget what the night tastes like.
Stop wondering through the shadows,
holding your neck out
for the slice of the axe.

Verdict: Liked. Definitely a movie you’d enjoy more on the big screen. Surprisingly, I also liked the SyFy channel’s more modest version of Alice as well – both were versions of the story where a more empowered grown-up Alice re-enters Wonderland to become a hero. Burton’s was a more straight-forward Joseph Campbell “Hero(ine)’s Journey” while the SyFy version dealt more with political intrigue.