Sonnettics

Here's a story for you:  

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**"A Whiff of Wonder"**  

Alice stumbled through the forest, her head spinning with the riddles and peculiarities of Wonderland. The question lingered in her mind like a ghost: *Who are you?* It was a question she had been asked countless times that day, and one she couldn't quite answer.  

The Caterpillar lounged atop its mushroom, languidly exhaling blue-tinged smoke from its ornate hookah. It watched her approach with its heavy-lidded eyes, the smoke curling lazily around its segmented body.  

"You again," it said in its slow, melodic tone. "Still no closer to an answer, I presume?"  

Alice hesitated. "No," she admitted, folding her hands in front of her. "But I think I might be. If I could just...think more clearly."  

The Caterpillar tilted its head, a curious expression crossing its face. It tapped the side of its hookah with a chitinous claw. "Perhaps clarity is not what you need," it mused. "But expansion."  

"Expansion?"  

It leaned forward, offering the hookah’s slender stem to her. "A whiff of this," it said, "might help you see the paths hidden beneath the brambles. A little...perspective adjustment."  

Alice’s cheeks flushed. "Oh, I don’t know. I’ve never tried anything like that before."  

"Then how can you know what it might teach you?" the Caterpillar countered, a wry smile playing on its lips. "If you're to answer the question, you must first be willing to ask it properly."  

The smoke swirled hypnotically in the air, its sweet, earthy scent curling into her nose. Alice felt a strange pull—curiosity and caution entwined. *Could it really help me?* she wondered.  

Taking the stem hesitantly, she glanced at the Caterpillar. "Will it...change me?"  

The Caterpillar laughed, a sound like the rustling of leaves. "Everything in Wonderland changes you, Alice. Why should this be any different?"  

With a deep breath, Alice placed the stem to her lips and inhaled. The smoke filled her lungs, warm and strange, and when she exhaled, the world seemed to shimmer around her. Colors brightened, and the lines of the forest softened as though they were melting into one another.  

"Who are you?" the Caterpillar asked again, its voice reverberating like the hum of a distant bell.  

Alice closed her eyes, letting the question settle in her mind. For the first time, it didn’t feel like a riddle or a trap. Instead, it felt like an invitation.  

"I am..." she began, her voice trailing off as images danced behind her closed lids. She saw herself as a child in her mother’s garden, as a curious wanderer in Wonderland, as a million possibilities and contradictions all at once.  

When she opened her eyes, the Caterpillar was watching her intently.  

"Well?" it asked.  

Alice smiled softly. "I think I’m...a question still being answered."  

The Caterpillar chuckled, withdrawing the hookah. "Not bad, little one. Not bad at all."  

As Alice turned to leave, the world seemed lighter, as if Wonderland itself had sighed in relief. The question still lingered, but it no longer weighed her down. Instead, it felt like a companion, urging her forward.  

And somewhere behind her, the Caterpillar exhaled another plume of smoke, satisfied.  

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What do you think?

As The Dams Are Removed From 

The Klamath River

The Klamath is my road, my path, my home
Too long my kind, though royal, have been lost
The purpose of my journey, not to roam
But out to sea, then back at any cost
The cost of this, my journey, has decreased
My road, my path, my home has been restored
The sacredness it feels has now increased
The sacredness that used to be ignored
And thus I swim where freedom lets me go
I go to where I need to be at last
At last where I began in Klamath’s flow
Is where my freedom calls me from the past
The past is past and yet I know the way
A salmon king for yet another day.

Indica is a goddess, dressed in green
She visits me in visions bathed in smoke
Such fantasies appear before they’re seen
An invocation needed to invoke

The call of buds she bears is heard by those
Who listen to the songs she hums aloud
And yes, she is aware, Indica knows
Such songs are those of which she can be proud

The pride of sweet Indica draws me in
To places she invites me with commands
Dichotomy is not her only sin
And yet by this she issues sweet demands

The goddess named Indica has a voice
That likes to make you think you have a choice.

I love Sophia like my love is new
Sophia knows my love transcends my heart
Imagine, if you will what she can do
Fulfilling her divine and noble part

Sophia is her wisdom and her grace
A god to worship everywhere she’s found
A god who knows her high and holy place
She speaks to me at times without a sound

At times I hear the music of her voice
Within the words I find I need to write
To signify that my belief is choice
I choose to dwell within her holy light

Sophia has been with me from the start
Within the thoughts that dwell within my heart.