Who Are You, What Have You Been (Final Version) Poem by Mary Angela Douglas

who are you, what have you been
I heard the clotted clouds and canvases demand,
the finagling skies
thinking I was the bride of politeness
and little else, besides
then I reached to the other side
boarding house reached
and found the darkened silver backing
of the mirror, blurred into multiple mirrors
while I cried, so homesick then.
what a carnival barker's ride
nothing was what it seemed when gleaming
from afar and I thought, Alice, how foolish you are
what unpleasant tea cozies
and all the doors ajar
only gossip, at teatimes
all about me and the Mad Hatter.
it really doesn't matter, when it's a lie but
how I wished not to have gone to sleep
on that summer riverbank when well,
to have stayed awake would have been
so much more pleasant a berried picnic
but I was always that way
prone to fantastic mistakes
bossed around by all the red queens
in my simple blue dress
I do confess I found it trying,
I was so happy to see the unpainted roses
on arriving back home and escaping the Musts;
my mother so beautiful, with little tea cakes,
raspberry jam and butter
and no crusts.

mary angela douglas 17 march 2023; 18 march 2023