Utopian Prelude and Dystopian Fugue

by Alayna Leestma

 

I.

Dorothy is in
Technicolor
And she’s smiling on the silver screen;

Dorothy’s lips are glaringly red, and I want to steal her shoes:
I’m jealous like a sister
But desperate like a witch.
Maybe she won’t notice me, a riptide
Pulling her feet,
Dragging her under.

I set the trees ablaze and they burn
I set the flowers ablaze and they burn
I set the sky on fire and it burns
I set Dorothy on fire and she dies.

Guilt is nothing when you’ve become
Technicolor
Against a charred landscape.
Ashes fly, laughing like monkeys,
But I don’t laugh with them. I laugh with the phoenix
While I pluck ruby shoes out of the rubble.
I burned the world dry, but I am
Technicolor.
Doesn’t the soot enhance my eyes?

I set myself ablaze and I soar.

II.

Technicolor
Radiation sinks into my bones
My teeth are silver.

I sharpen the kitchen knife because
I have too many fingers. I hack my hand
And bleed rubies.

Did you know?
That if I open my eyes wide enough,
They will
Pop
Out of my ivory skull,
And roll away?

If eyes are the windows to the soul
My soul wants to escape bloody.
I cry like broken glass and

My teeth are silver. Maybe I’ll melt them down
Into a necklace
So people are too distracted to see my
Empty eyes-

When I drink they shimmer (my teeth),
Sharpen
Into fangs and I bite my hand,
I have too many fingers anyways.

I bleed silver
I bleed rubies
I bleed teeth
Clattering out of me,

My water is metallic, a slow poison
Seeping into me. Where are my eyes?
How do I know if my teeth
Are silver?

 

 

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