2016 Found Object Poem Project: Day 6
It's Day 6 of our month-long daily writing project.This year’s theme is FOUND OBJECTS. For those of you who are new to the project, please read my introductory post. You’ll find more information and all of the Week 1 FOUND OBJECTS at this post.
FOUND: Antique DollsI found today's object in my home town, Ellicott City, Maryland. Just down the road from where I live is the center and oldest part of town. Old Ellicott City was the first terminus of the B&O Railroad, a pre-Revolutionary mill town. Today, it is a quaint stretch of old buildings and townhouses with antique shops, boutiques, and restaurants.I've always loved this photograph. Something about the reflection in the cracked window glass makes these dolls feel like more than old toys for sale. Let's see what everyone came up with.I wonder whether Jennifer Lewis, who used to live near me, guessed that I took this picture in Old Ellicott City, where trains still rumble through town today.
They've Seen Much
By Jennifer Lewis
They saw the train tip in sky,
Offering one last lullaby,
They saw the child make a face,
Breath's condensation, fingers trace,
Rock and grass picnic tables,
Twig and stick equine stables,
Tea party attire, sipping air,
Guest list inviting Ted E. Bear,
Crackling glass, cracking skin,
Wondering if the story ends,
Universal melancholy,
When we see, one's lost dolly,
They've seen better days this is true,
But homemade memories imbue,
The storybooks, the belly's laughter,
A child's love for ever after.
I wanted to get away from humanizing the dolls and recognize that they are, especially without their usual trappings of clothing and packaging, objects. But one of these ladies had something else in mind. (Heidi -- this is a sort of "No" poem.)
Window: Antique Shop
by Laura Shovan
Without their dresses,
rompers, ribbons,
lace, without
their boxes, gift wrap,
tissue, pink bows,
the dolls stand
disjointed, quiet.
They face the street,
hear no birds,
people, rumbling train,
see no cars pass.
They do not
watch the growing crack
in the glass pane,
nor the one
who seems to raise her
plastic fist to
strike again.
In contrast to my poem, Linda Baie added fabrics into her response. Since we are working on sensory details this year, I love this addition to the dolls.
Dolly Cry
I need a friend:Pick me, pick me
for garden walks,dressed up for tea.I’ll need the softestorganza dressI’d love a hat,best to impress.You’ll play with mebe all I wanta loving child,a confidante.We’ll stroll and sniffthose blooms en masseI spy outsidemy window glass.Pick me, pick me.Let us conspire.I’m lonely here,you’re my desire.Linda Baie ©All Rights Reserved
Do you find Linda's final line creepy or inviting?
The last line of Jessica Bigi's doll poem feels very wistful to me. I love the wordplay here.
Store Window DollsBy Jessica BigiUmbrella bonnetsLocks looping curlersBlinking eyelash eyesWalking talking cryingUmbrella dressesStore Window DollsHoping for hugsDiane Mayr uses the last few lines of her poem to reveal the setting.Parking Lot in New Hampshire on a Sunny February DayBy Diane MayrUnbuckle your seatbeltincline your seat backwardsclose your eyes, relax.Feel the deeply penetratingradiant heat of the sun.Relish the seclusion. Nosand in your underwear whenyour beach is glass and steel.From the first lines of Molly Hogan's poem, you'll know whether she's in the "creepy" or "nostalgic" camp when it comes to these dolls.Breaking NewsBy Molly HoganMass Escape fromSt. Claud’s Centerfor Delinquent DollsJust this morninga passing photographercaptured this pivotal sceneof the notorious Brown-Haired Dollwith her famous fringed blue eyes,gang leader, miscreant,dimpled arm raised,baby-blue-shoed footkicking out,targeting the glass barrier,already fractured,and demure-looking accompliceslurking in assumed postureswith their flat and soullessmarble gazes intent.Look-outs.All poised on the verge of escape.I'm impressed with how each poet today uses language to set the tone of his or her poem, communicating different ways of feeling about our found object. This one is from Catherine Flynn at Reading to the Core.Haunted by ghostsof little girlswho loved them once,dolls, long forgottenstare, eyes blank,through crackedplate glass.“Have you seen Emma or Ida or Grace?”their soulless eyes pleadwith people rushing by.They long for the warmthof tender hugsthat would break this spelland mend their broken hearts.By Catherine Flynn
I'm so pleased to see my friend (and fellow Pisces) Heidi Mordhorst joining us today! You'll see the image at the left that shows Heidi's playfulness with form. It's amazing what spacing can do in a poem. When you compare the two version of "A Doll Trap" side by side, the one on the left is full of movement.
A Doll Trap
secured behind glass
half-dressed
or less
doubly exposed
glazed
they gaze out
lean reaching toward
freedom
one does more than yearn
raises her
chubby arm
to crack that glass again
again
dolly hai-ya
she will be
free
will walk among
walls and rock
follow plastic paths
to new clothes
new scenes
Heidi Mordhorst 2016, all rights reserved
Speaking of form, I'm glad to see I'm not the only person trying out prose poetry this month. Margaret Simon sent in this response.
The Doll Collection
by Margaret Simon
A collection of dolls makes me nostalgic for those days when my girls were young, each one with a favorite baby doll with a name like Danielle or Harriet, carried everywhere, to the grocery store, pushed around in the rolling cart shopping like Mommy, or to the church nursery equipped with a bulging diaper bag, and I cry at the thought that today these well-loved, adorned dolls are alone in a plastic bin inside the upstairs closet waiting for a new child to love her, hug her until the stuffing breaks. Maybe I hear them crying, too.
***
Another new face -- though she has been a regular in past years -- is poet Patricia VanAmburg. Great use of a title working against the poem here, which creates so much tension.
Lullaby
By Patricia VanAmburg
Dolly told Baby she wanted to screamBaby said, Dolly, don ’t taunt—You know that we are held in a dream—and all we can do is haunt.
Dolly said, Baby, you’re kind of creepySometimes you make my skin crawl—I hope that you will soon feel sleepy—But Baby started to bawl.
***
Last in today is Mary Lee Hahn.
Abandoned
As a child,my dolls were my closest friends.When I left for college,I tried to pack them in a trunk,but had to release them before they suffocated.They’ve lived my entire adult life(up until now)on the closet shelfin my childhood bedroom.Soon,they will be auctioned awayto strangers.I will hear them calling to mefor the rest of my life.©Mary Lee Hahn, 2016http://www.maryleehahn.com/2016/02/found-object-poem-dolls.htmlMary Lee's poem reminds me of my mother's dolls from the 1940s and 50s. Several of them are wrapped up, sitting in the bottom of a bureau, waiting for a trip to the doll hospital for some TLC.Late arrivals! There are two more poems to share. Clearly, the dolls drew our attention. Matt Forrest Esenwine is playing around with inner and outer spaces in this poem.“Day of the Dolls”Soulless eyessee through your lies;hollow hearts ne’er beat.Prison wallsshatter, fall –they’re loose upon the street!– © 2016, Matt Forrest EsenwineI encourage everyone to visit Carol Varsalona's blog Beyond Literacy Link, where she breaks down her writing process for her Day 6 response poem. Her post has some great insights into how we go from inspiration or prompt, through initial draft, to developing poem.
See you tomorrow for Day 7 and the Week 2 prompts.Interested in what we’ve written so far? Here are links to this week’s poems:Monday, February 1FOUND OBJECT: 100 year-old mailing boxPoems by: Diane Mayr, Molly Hogan, Mary Lee Hahn, Linda Baie, Jessica Bigi, Margaret Simon, Laura Shovan, Matt Forrest Esenwine, Catherine Flynn, Jone Rush MacCulloch, Brenda Harsham.Tuesday, February 2FOUND OBJECT: Fancy peppers and producePoems by: Mary Lee Hahn, Jessica Bigi, Diane Mayr, Molly Hogan, Laura Shovan, Linda Baie, Matt Forrest Esenwine, Margaret Simon, Jennifer Lewis.Wednesday, February 3FOUND OBJECT: Moth eggsPoems by: Jessica Bigi, Margaret Simon, Diane Mayr, Mary Lee Hahn, Molly Hogan, Linda Baie, Jone Rush MacCulloch, Laura Shovan, Catherine Flynn.Thursday, February 4FOUND OBJECT: Table fanPoems by: Jessica Bigi, Diane Mayr, Margaret Simon, Laura Shovan, Molly Hogan, Mary Lee Hahn, Linda Baie, Carol Varsalona, Catherine Flynn.Friday, February 5 at Guest Blog, Radio, Rhythm & RhymeFOUND OBJECT: Tomato MoonPoems by: Matt Forrest Esenwine, Jessica Bigi, Diane Mayr, Molly Hogan, Margaret Simon, Carol Varsalona, Laura Shovan, Mary Lee Hahn.