One time
I spread my wings
and flew across the world,
Dorothy riding her tornado stallion
all the way to Wonderland.
When I got there
I defied gravity
on the Roller Coaster of Doom,
and, oh, what the hell,
I cut my hair.
Tip: Do you know that you should
watch out when a woman does that—
The Big Chop?
It’s a clue.
Hark, listen up now!
She is fixin’ to go
stark-raving-yellow-fever-prairie-crazy,
and if you look too long
into those black eyes, Susan,
she will take you with her,
right down that rabbit hole.
But let’s
be sure to
be clear:
I didn’t fall,
I jumped.
I took the long way down,
and I heard demons there,
and I saw them too
as they slithered their way
behind my back
and stabbed me with their silvery tongues.
But sometimes you let them do it,
don’t you?
You let them have their way with you,
because you love the ones that kissed you
with demons in their mouths.
I met the King and all his minions
and the Queen
with her red hearts for eyes.
She loved me, it’s true,
but she was mad as a hatter.
I grew a lion’s mane.
A good trim on a
Super Full Wolf Blood Moon
will do that,
but only if you believe it.
I grew a lion’s heart too.
I didn’t know a haircut could do that,
but I guess I should have.
And the Mind of the Universe,
it shrunk itself
and curled up in my hand
like a golden kitten.
The next thing I knew
I had new shoes on my feet
that burned like fire
in a good way.
The tag read “Home Sweet Home,”
behind a picture
of the sweetest smiling
blue-eyed man—
The brand, I guess,
but I’d never heard of it.
I contorted myself,
my lands,
you should have seen it,
so I could rest my head
on those shoes,
and I slept like the dead.
And when I rose again,
I laughed like a baby,
nestled in a treetop.
© Amy Axby 2019