another wonderland poem

alice tells  me to grow older

she has one of those aged mirrors

with the nickel stains

sitting at her stone table

she combs her hair

how do you do?

 

but alice, I say, you’re not far from here

we’re not far from here

but I don’t recognize my face

through the nickel blotch

and she says come closer

you stupid girl

 

there is no way out

there is never a way out

this mirror, she says, is our window