States of Poetry - Poems
States of Poetry 2016 - Western Australia | ‘Alice at Last’ by Kia Groom
by Kia Groom •
'Either the well was very deep, or she fell very slowly...'
– Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland
I un-wake to damage.
Light-bulb stutters, frantic
once off, once on, illuminates
imagined city
skyline.
Inside my bedroom it rains
for days. The head
full of synaptic hauntings
shudders. Old-milk sky
dimming.
I tell myself there is
a world outside
the world. Stay still
completely
still & gather dust.
& watch the fretful halls.
Walls convulse,
contract & close. The filament
at the bulb's chest flickers. Lethe
is half
dream-drowned in me.
There is a sickness not worth
surfacing. Better
to sink. To listen: soft light, soft
light & the pressure
the pressure of doorways.
Kia Groom