Auntie Alice

(album: Stars Too Small To Use - 1999)

Auntie Alice, where are you now? We rung your number and they called it "disconnected." In a dream you come sailing out of a pool of deep blue water. Auntie Alice keeps spiders in her house, feeds them earwigs and mosquitoes. Her pink tongue comes darting out from where her front teeth are missing. I went downstairs in the middle of the night, because I heard her scratching at the door. She fed me chocolates and said she couldn't sleep. She asked me what the bug light was for. Auntie Alice wears the same dress every day. Butter turns green on her counter. She sings me songs she learned on Christmas eve. She tells me stories about castles. "The number you have dialed is not in service" it said, "hang up or dial again." Auntie Alice have you found your palace yet? Auntie Alice, look out for us who think we know where we are going. Your picture gathers dust on the fridge and watches us keep our appointments. Auntie Alice howling through the woods, Auntie Alice in my dream, somehow gone from the phone book for good. Life forms around you when you leave.