Elena in the Velvet Hole

Elena’s falling through a curtain of black soot A rabbit with a stopwatch and a cloven foot "Too late!" screams the rat in the pinstripe vest Blowing bubbles from a hole in his hollow chest The walls are soft like a rotting birthday cake And the clock strikes thirteen for the shadow's sake Drink from the bottle with the label made of rust Elena’s growing taller in a cloud of ancient dust Iron flamingos playing croquet with your head Believe in the lies that the dying sun has fed The King of Hearts is a cutout made of tin Dancing on a wire with a wide, electric grin Elena in the hole... The world is turning droll... Of sugar and glass and mud. Turn the key three times around... Bite the apple from the ground. "Why is a raven like a broken amplifier? Because the silence is threaded with copper wire. Turtles carry soup in their shoes, Elena. And the moon... the moon is just a yellow stain On the carpet of the emperor. Smile for the cat who has no face." The teapot’s boiling over with a bitter, black ink While the blue caterpillar starts to drown and sink Eat from the mushroom on the jagged left side And burn the map where the cheshire shadows hide The goose is laying eggs of cold, gray concrete In the garden of the baron on a dead-end street Elena in the hole... The world is turning droll... Of sugar and glass and mud. Turn the key three times around... Bite the apple from the ground. Nonsense... Mud... Glass... Elena was there... Elena was...