Erin Elizabeth Smith

How to Get Dry

 The first question of course was, how to get dry again?
                                                                                       – Carroll

Sometimes the floods come quickly –
each slipped tear from your massive face

accumulates and you are turned small
again, left to raft the bitter ocean

with a French mouse who starts
at your slippery tongue.  It is one way

to get through the door. The other,
demands of food and drink – each nibbled

piece, politely lipped sip, makes you
someone you are not.  Or rather, variations

on the theme of you, grown too small
for your clothes again, the dress splayed

on the floor like a body, your body,
left in a cold sort of sleep.  The trick

is to get dry again.  The mouse thinks
philosophy, history, its doomed

repetition.  The Dodo suggests you run –
anywhere, racing yourself until you clasp

hands on bony knees and forget
where you were sprinting from.

There are no towels for this
sort of rain. And you don’t

know when to stop

 


 

¨

 Bio: Erin Elizabeth Smith

Alice Attends Bonne’s Wedding

Sesquicentennial Alice


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