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/