A girl

this is a sestina. i hate sestinas. my creative writing teacher liked it though and i don't think it's too awful.

stepped through the looking glass, Alice

Did she see her reflection

Or did the whole rabbit hole

Experience simply make her blind.

She heard an echo, We’re all mad

Here, as she fell.

The creatures watch her fall,

And they whisper who ARE you, Alice?

And she thinks to herself, you’re all mad!

Until she looks at her reflection

And realizes she’s been blind

All along in the darkness of the hole.

But among singing flowers she forgets the whole

Epiphany she had and begins to fall

Again into unknowing, into blindness.

From the dark sprouts images of malice

And the cheshire cat’s smile merely a reflection

Of her mind gone mad.

But has she gone mad?

The definition of mad has a hole

Where her reflection

Should be, a downfall

Of sorts for naive Alice

Who thinks maybe she’s just blind.

But the creatures within her know she’s not blind.

Who ARE you? asks the Mad

Hatter as she searches, yet again, for Alice

She crawls back up the rushed rabbit’s hole,

But at the top is another fall,

And she’s forced to face her reflection.

But her reflection

Is what makes her blind.

Preconceived notions and smoke rings fall

Into her lap telling her what you see is MAD

But all she knows is she’s in a hole

and she can’t find Alice.

Her reflection makes her mad.

Confusion blinds her, and sends her down a hole.

But she should be happy to fall, and lose Alice.

Reviews

[Steven]

Once I see Alice, I immediately sigh... here we go again. BUT, this was surprisingly refreshing. Usually people get so hung up on comparing Alice's surreal dream with their own lives in all of its external pressures--but, you got all introspective with it. Dream theory. I liked it a lot.

[Dana Alsamsam]

thank you! i've always loved alice, but looked at her in a completely different way than most people seem to see her... thank you for understanding that and reading without preconceived judgement even though it was an alice poem.

[sparkle]

I like this poem so much , it's a wonderful 1 !! I felt while reading that there is a lot of freedom , you sound like you wrote everything that passed through your mind , and everything you felt at that time , anw love it ;)

[Dana Alsamsam]

thank you! that's the best possible compliment you could give me on this because i was trying to make it sound "free" even though i was restricted by form so that's wonderful. thank you for reading!

[jacob erin-cilberto]

"her reflection is what makes her blind"

such wonderful contradiction there...

on the whole, no holes in this...

you did the form well...but kind of know where you are coming from...at least from your description..if i am forced into form...i don't feel comfortable with what comes out...

maddening..isn't it?

[Dana Alsamsam]

yes! i just don't tend to like organized writing classes or writing in specific formats because my writing sort of ebbs and flows out of my head on it's own, but my writing teacher made a point of telling me that she actually thought this was one of my best! so i kept working on it. thank you for reading!

[Richard]

Another amazing piece! it drove me MAD