Jello Mould Nightmare (Final Version) Previously Known As Advice On What To Do In The Worst Part Of The Fairy Tale In A Nation Of Balloon Poppers Poem by Mary Angela Douglas

when and if the things around you start to change shape
or meld and gel around you in a terrible jello mould
salad with pistachios and cream cheese and somebody
has really stubbed their toe on the dark green food colouring
or something; the tiny seasick marshmallows
or you are being squeezed
somehow turned into something someone else's
tubed toothpaste or nom de plume
rather like a balloon animal twisted into a circus
thing NO one on earth could identify as even

an abstract member of the Animal Kingdom
and in a nation of people
wielding pins
swiftly excuse yourself from the birthday hutzpah;
forgetting the strawberry ice cream or
you are advised to call a halt to the proceedings which are probably
happening in dreams or at least with the lillac fairy in the Sleeping

Beauty ballet sleeping in the wings to ameliorate the spell,
have SOME say so for hecks sake in what happens to you, around you

and PRAY
even if you dont carry a wand that works
so that they dont change you into something too bad
that you can't fight your way out of a paper bag, patiently
this is my advice for the things that happen to you
that were never supposed to happen
at all.
take it or leave it.
mary angela douglas 7 february 2022; 19 march 2023