Alternative Alice

Alternative AliceA girl grew up inside the pages of Alice in Wonderland and Alice through the Looking Glass. She wanted to be Alice, not because of the wonders, but because of Alice. Alice could answer back. She applied her own logic. She wasn't simply existing to please adults or to fit in. She was rude to these annoying adults. And she survived madness, beating them all to the end of the book. These poems dissolve the boundary between character and reader. For how

A girl grew up inside the pages of Alice in Wonderland and Alice through the Looking Glass. She wanted to be Alice, not because of the wonders, but because of Alice. Alice could answer back. She applied her own logic. She wasn't simply existing to please adults or to fit in. She was rude to these annoying adults. And she survived madness, beating them all to the end of the book.

These poems dissolve the boundary between character and reader. For how does a young female imagination become Alice? Together they refuse to integrate. Alice is determined. I learned to make up her own min, even if it's wrong. Alice is not only clever, but armed with quips and ruthless logic. These are tools to defend her vulnerable mind against predatory men and controlling women. The author/Alice takes their independent, individual route defying the pressure to conform.

With supporting roles from the White Rabbit, the Knight and the Dodo.

With original pictures, ink on wood.