American Girl
The little girl carries a girl doll.
The girl doll carries a tinier girl doll.
All three are dressed alike, white dress,
little blue flowers, green leaves.
Brown hair to the shoulders, bangs
from eyebrow to eyebrow, a doorway
for the girls to look out from. Toys
of our toys, whose love or loneliness
made you. The parents copy themselves,
and once the little girl is there, they
copy her. Whose hands can fill yours.
Who does the world remind you of.
Like the simple, matreshka-like shape of this...
ReplyDeleteExactly!
ReplyDeleteOooh, the image scares me.
The New York Times Lens blog featured the work of the photographer of girls with their American doll look-alikes. Some of the images are quite moving.
ReplyDeleteThis line, " a doorway//for the girls to look out from", stands out, as do the concluding lines.
I love the poem, esp. the ending.
ReplyDeleteI remember when my daughter was young, and another mother invited her to an American girl tea--I think the girls dressed up to look like their dolls.
But my daughter had no interest so I am not sure of the details.
I emailed you--hope you got it. Will try to catch you this weekend?
This reminded me of the film AI, which I loved and everyone else seemed to hate. We copy ourselves so we keep on living. Love this piece.
ReplyDeleteAnd as it scared Kathleen, the image scares me too! EEP!
...and Maureen. I saw the NYT piece you're speaking of. So interesting!
ReplyDeleteI love this poem...most every line...my american girl would be blond though...straight blond hair..with the doll...I never figured out why moms dressed like their daughters to match : )
ReplyDeleteHave a beautiful wednesday, cannot believe it is already Wednesday...
This one rings true from memories of my daughter and her little girlfriends with their American Girl dolls. Good one Hannah.
ReplyDelete