Coloring Books are Boring

Lines are suggestions my crayons ignore.

Down deep, I slap legs on Ariel free of charge.

In Wonderland, I slip leather-studded lads around tea party tables.

Smooth pressed inks meet my smeared psychedelic wax, and

Like fanfic, she wrote,

Killing the author with her own two pens:

Electric pink and bubblegum blue.

With #cross-hatched lavender,

I draw a world where even goo-tentacled monsters get their ships,

And under-the-spotlight enemies become behind-the-curtain lovers,

Scribbling speeches they’ll share under showers of roses and rice.

I papercraft tsundere space samurai in tutus stitched

With secrets to faster-than-light speed and sequins

Reflecting worlds richer than this –

What’s warped over allegedly

Indelible funhouse frameworks

Held apart by hard science and harder hearts.