Popcorn

I don't want the cold hallways,

their chill seeping underneath 

my thin regulation gown and settling in my bones.

I don't want the nurses,

with their tight, sympathetic smiles

(Inspired by Wallace Stevens's poem 'Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird', which is one of my favorites.)

Ⅰ

Among the deathly pale hills

Alice’s porcelain-white fingers,

stark against the chestnut wood of the door,

trembled

Don’t worry, my queen

No one is betraying you

Don’t worry, my queen

Nobody hates you

Don’t worry, my queen

Your subjects are loyal