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Standing in the Anime Kingdom
It’s a dangerous wonderland— and me without my minikilt, surrounded by minigirls whose minitops are falling off, their eyes too big. Surrounded by tall men with glasses mocking the American dub, they thumb through Manga, reading stories of half-wolf demon boys, kids imprisoned in robot bodies and vampire princesses - even a female cyborg in a thong. I am afraid, all these child-like faces pressed up against the pages, they want to escape this kingdom. I lean into the glass, distorted, wide-eyed. I have left my fox ears behind, too heavy beneath the weight of these boys and their candy-colored hallucinations, hearing Ragnarok and cyberpunks, their tiny battles beneath my fingertips. O, where are you Nausicaa, playing your harp instead of lessons? Where are you, princess of caterpillars?
Jeannine Hall Gailey is a Seattle-area writer whose first book of poetry, Becoming the Villainess, was recently published by Steel Toe Books. Poems from the book have appeared multiple times on NPR’s The Writer’s Almanac and Verse Daily. Her work has appeared in The Iowa Review, The Columbia Poetry Review, and The Evansville Review. Her chapbook, Female Comic Book Superheroes, was published by Pudding House Press and is available at her web site, www.webbish6.com. |