Incognito

 

[Incognito]

 

Alice Incognito

designs imbecilic graffito

the other side of the looking-glass

 

vocabulary bland

what’s there to understand

and grammar that at a pinch will pass

 

with XS text to spare

the Queen gyres gimbles shares

squared statements at stupendous speed

 

the effects are dense

quite lacking much sense

but is there really a need?

 

Alice visits reverse suburbs

ungoverned by commas or verbs

where nouns go unattached to things

 

the Queen says you’re my object

Alice replies, you mean subject?

oh yes one of those, showing no feelings

 

to speak of many things

that could mean anything

the time has come, the Mallrat said

 

the time has come, the Mallrat said

to rewrite the quick and dead

leaving their meanings unread

 

only, goodness gracious me

every word of Tedious We

is turned into Tedious Dumb

 

as Alice traipses land-claims

where nothing no nothing has names

all the way to kingdom come

 

Hardly DoneBy took a spell on the wall

Humdrum Tumbly had a great fall

who recalls his unknown scrawl?

 

Hatter Dormouse Hare so tall

the chattering classes one and all?

who then mirror on the wall?

 

has she the power of veto

Alice Incognito

the deciding vote, hers to unquote

 

if not, then who unpicks her snicker-snacks

her gushy amen-less syntax

all the write rush left she ever wrote?

 

Image: coloured Tenniel of total immersion Alice. Narelle from the Network is our name for the PT voiceovers in the trains of Melbourne. Last week Bridie said it was announced that Narelle is retiring. We conjectured on the meaning of this news and that Narelle’s redundancy (“years of outstanding service”) most likely makes way for AI. Our name for the new voiceover was Alice Incognito. The poem expands universally Alice’s role.