A man

He stands

His hair in stringy strands

His laughter is mad

Intentions are not bad

He offers me a treat

Most enticing and sweet

A slip through the lips

And then I take a sip

Of a sweet tea elixir

Sure to do the trick

My fear, it fades

For laughter it trades

Someone's worried about the time

As he speaks riddles and rhymes

His giggles are contagious

Mine become outrageous

He asks questions so silly

And I can't answer, really

I'm gasping for air

Along with our friend the hare

The time has passed so quickly

Now I'm feeling rather sickly

As laughter fades away

Reality rises as the break of day

You and me in this Rhapsody,

And all we are having is tea,

Now there should have been some biscuits too,

But Winnie gave them away to Roo.

A lemon tart might do the job,

But mouse prefers baked corn cobs,

Now I could have put some corns to bake,

But Rabbit prefers a mango shake,

A mango shake I could conjure up,

But Horton here has a cough.

A cough could clear with some syrup & honey,

But Bumble Bee was acting funny,

Now I could have some fun with thee,

Isn't that why we are have tea?

© CopyRight Vibha Lohani 2016

Alice chews a gilded swan feather. "It's more cloying than one might think."

"The secret is in not thinking." Dipping his tail in his teacup, the Dormouse makes the fat droplets fall plop-plop onto his pink tongue. "I don't."

"Don't be rude," Alice says. When she frowns her smile goes turvy bonkers.

From atop a chartreuse velvet footstool, the Cat chimes in. "He's not the one with a quill in his teeth."

"Yes, well, neither am I," says Alice.

"Of course. You're not cloying at all." When the Cat smiles, his smiles goes burvy tonkers and even the Dormouse stops licking tea from his tail to laugh. "You're merely a frosted girl cake waiting to be thrown in the pond."

Alice leaps to her feet, feather tight in her fist. "Now you're being rude. You can't go throwing girls in ponds." She stomps her foot.

The Cat tuts under his whiskered breath. "Then it's a good thing you're a cloying cake and not a rude girl, isn't it?"

The Dormouse's tail falls forgotten in the teapot as a pond no bigger than a pond is found under Alice.

A gilded swan feather floats to the lawn.

"Tea?" asks the Cat.

Delirious and demented

completely mad

you’re invited to my tea party

for those who are psychotic

and just plain nuts

wear your straitjackets

you’ll be locked in

with other crazies

at the party of tea

mind blowing dark liquid

take you on trips

to the land of deranged

savor wacky tea cakes

with foolish frosting

nutty ice cream on side

go on cuckoo ride

with other psychos

with whom you’ll abide

the mad tea party

won’t take too long

but it doesn’t matter

you won’t remember

the depth of your frenzy

with maniacal mates.

Twisting

Turning

Swirling

Tea Party.

Me and me

And then there is he

He is there also

There is She,

And there is it

There is quite a bit of it

A smile turns upwards

and the sugar is spilled

Plates passed forwards

And a bug is killed.

Eyes are blinking

and then they're not

My chest is sinking

Like it’s been shot.

I'm all alone

I'm all alone

There is only tea

And me on my throne

On my throne

All alone.

In my mad tea party.

Carroll’s mad tea party in Wonderland,

With the March Hare, Dormouse, and Mad Hatter.

Upon first glance seemed altogether grand,

Despite the bedlam and endless chatter.

The Hare offered to young Alice some wine,

And the Hatter proposed cutting her hair.

They called her rude (although truly benign),

Her reply to both was one piercing glare.

Amidst the riddles, Alice was confused,

With Dormouse’s efforts to tell a tale.

Hatter became increasingly amused,

While she sought to fathom the odd assail.

The moral—to avoid Alice’s fate,

Don’t chase a white rabbit who’s running late.

A fantastical party pulses in the mucus of my brain:

We gnash sweet morsels and gurgle bitter tea, not a soul sane.

Dahmer deposits sour sugar into my cup as he caresses my thigh.

Meanwhile, Sweeney Todd surgically slices triangles of meaty pie.

Dabbing the dark chocolate from his human mask is a fellow called Gein.

Bundy's face twitches as he repeats, "Will somebody pass the spleen?"

The obese clown named Gacy meat-sweats his face paint away

While Jack the Ripper, holding a dead stripper, refuses to pay.

In the sharp silence their utensils burrow beneath my skin,

Draining the blood from my body so the feast can begin.

He's here!

She's here!

You're here too!

Take a seat

gather round!

The feast is served!

If I give you this drink

will you sing for me?

Look at how you made her laugh!

She whispers into her tea how terrible, 

terrible she looks

I'm hideous! 

(crash)

The crumpets fell to the floor!

Oh dear!

He's shoving them in his mouth now!

{worms coming from his teeth?}

No! 

She's kicking her feet at the dishes!

The glass, the glass it stings as you touch it, right?

The rabbit is here...

I see his bunny teeth gnawing away on...

{idontknowidontknow!}

Wait, tears on your cheeks?

Why are you crying?

{your tears burn me}

The rabbit isn't white anymore,

...redpaint.

{no! no! it's not paint, is it?}

He's leaving! He's leaving!

Oh, what to do, to do?

{Get the rabbit!}

Don't just sit there!

Don't drink the tea!

What's the voice in wind?

It's madness, I tell you, m a d n e s s.

{it's me! it's you! it's you! it's me!}

[No one is here but you]

you're me

and I'm you.

It's we

as me...

It's me

as you...

tea...

Shall I get a cup of tea for you?

a Mad

Tea Party

& you

Invited me

Oh

you Really

Shouldn’t Have

Cause you

See

the Hatter’s

Kind

of Lame

& the

Tea

Is Kind

of Tame

Not the

Kind

They Use

To Serve

To me

Where

the Rabbit

Would Be

Packing

& Alice

Would Be

On Her

Knee’s

& Mercy

Would Be

the Furthest

Thing

you See

That’s

the Kind

of Party

For me

#B27321