a weary cat's post-credit ramblings

by Jaiden Thompson

after Coraline (2009)


Coraline, i am tired. i don’t believe

in dolls, life taunted or personification

taken too far. maybe i am old and blind,

but i do not like how buttons seduce

light, snatching it from our gazes and

leaving our eyes untouched. Coraline,

i like your hair; and i think you knew

to stitch some color to yourself, to keep

your eyes company somehow. maybe

i am too young and discernable, but

i’d like to say you’ll be okay. you’ll

relearn to trust dolls like you trust

sticks and mud and all inanimate,

beautiful things. you’ll smile when

your hair grows plain again or maybe

you’ll redye it simply because it’s pretty

and you like how it flirts with your eyes.

and, Coraline, look: the moon. it’s just

that. no booming, button eye.

Jaiden Thompson (they/them) is a young writer walking the line between poetic genius and foolery. They have work published or forthcoming in Superfroot, All Guts No Glory, perhappened, Lumiere Review, and COUNTERCLOCK, among others. They are also an editor for Interstellar Literary Review. Learn more about them here: https://jaidenthompson.carrd.co/