Thursday, August 5, 2010

Imitation

I played with
dolls--
replicated babies,
imitation women;
flat dolls, bottled dolls, punch
or cut-out paper dolls
Sears Roebuck Catalog
or Woolworth five and dime
dolls
slid glass slippers on her
heel
Barbie was the real deal 

7 comments:

  1. I like this poem, especially the last two lines.

    Here is my doll poem:

    a doll fitting inside a doll inside a doll ...

    Chen-ou

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  2. Thanks, Chen-ou. Yes, nesting dolls are also fun (some, VERY beautiful). ~Kay

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  3. Loved the cadence and rhyme here.

    I was forbidden to play with dolls as a boy. Girls' toys only back then. I could never quite understand the attraction of Barbie or the dolls that were to be admired only and not played with. The baby dolls I understood.

    I have adult friends today who find dolls absolutely sinister. Dolls seem to me very complex phenomena in the human psyche. So do their cousins, the marionettes.

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  4. By the time my brother was in grade school they had some GI Joe type dolls, but he lost them to my sister and I. LOL. Now that I'm aware of the ill proportions of Barbie, I have a few issues with her (just make her average!) but I loved dressing her up and giving her the life and situations I dreamed of.

    I always thought it good for boys to play with baby dolls... great way to prepare for siblings or children! Though it's always a shocker that the real babies don't behave so nicely...

    I'm not afraid of marionettes, but clowns can bug me, and speaking of bugs... another day for that.

    I'm glad you enjoyed my unorthodox topic for a "beat" poem, Brian. :o) ~Kay

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  5. I forbid my daughters to play and possess one of these ugly American pin-up-girls - and they really became Barbie-haters ... and now, being adults? would they be different if they had ever played with them? One is going to be a lawyer who writes poems and the other is a midwife ... what finally would be different?
    Well, thinking about it I know - they always choose the difficult way, don't give in too easily, don't believe in apparition, try to find what is beneath the surface....

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  6. ...don't believe in appearances .... sorry!!!
    I mixed the words up - OMG - what a shame... but finally after some time I really had that daydream that there might have been a mistake somewhere... and whoops, I found it...

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  7. Lady Art, I'm so happy to hear from you. Your daughters sound lovely! Motherhood--the choices we make on behalf of our children is so difficult! I never know what I've done right or wrong. Barbie and Hollywood portray a very unhealthy portrait of appearance! I do believe I worried too much about it as I grew. Because of Barbie? Who knows. But I'm glad to hear your daughters look deeper. (Your edit made me smile.) Best regards, Kay

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