Iva
When Mother's rich uncle in Denver died
and left everything to her,
she took it as a sign
that we were meant to leave
"that dirty farm" and
"those ignorant farm wives" behind.
I missed the class picture,
but Marjorie wrote and told me
how Jack masterminded
a plan to become
as famous as his siblings.
I wish I had been there to remind
him -- be happy with what you are
and what you've got.
Sometimes good enough is just fine.
©Mary Lee Hahn, 2016
The girl with the curls is Dorothy
And that other one,
with the dark hair, no curls,
way off on the right side,
actually part way out of the picture
in the navy, too big,
sleeves-rolled-up-dress
(made over from a dress
Ma found in the church mission box)
That's me.
"Look at all this lovely cloth," Ma said
"why would someone throw that out?"
and I knew right then
that not only was I not going
to have curls like Dorothy
but my dress was going to be ugly too.
Do you see how I'm kind of scowling?
I will not stay here on the plains
where the day to day ordinariness
of life in a homemade dress with no curls
sucks the life out of you
the same way the hot prairie winds
suck the life out of the seeds
Pa tries to grow
Someday, I'll be the girl with the curls
and the store bought dress.
Someday, I'll be like Dorothy.
(c) Carol Wilcox, 2016
Wow. I can't tell you how much I love this poem, both for itself (especially those last three lines!) and for what it tells me about this unfolding story. I wanna know, what's Jack's plan? Who is Iva? (She sounds sensible and grounded, or is she just dutiful?) Who will Dorothy become? So many questions.
ReplyDeleteI'm loving this project.
Mine for the day (or every other day...) is about fathers and sons.
ReplyDeletehttp://poemplace.edublogs.org/2016/04/05/pa/
I feel like Steve. I want to know more about Jack? And how is Iva related to the rest of the crew? Every night, I go to bed knowing I will wake up to the next installment! I'm wondering if there are other people in your family, or in Burlington, reading your poems?
ReplyDelete"The girl with the curls is Dorothy"
And that other one,
with the dark hair, no curls,
way off on the right side,
actually part way out of the picture
in the navy, too big,
sleeves-rolled-up-dress
(made over from a dress
Ma found in the church mission box)
That's me.
"Look at all this lovely cloth," Ma said
"why would someone throw that out?"
and I knew right then
that not only was I not going
to have curls like Dorothy
but my dress was going to be ugly too.
Do you see how I'm kind of scowling?
I will not stay here on the plains
where the day to day ordinariness
of life in a homemade dress with no curls
sucks the life out of you
the same way the hot prairie winds
suck the life out of the seeds
Pa tries to grow
Someday, I'll be the girl with the curls
and the store bought dress.
Someday, I'll be like Dorothy.
(c) Carol Wilcox, 2016
Carol! I love the way you brought this character on the edge of the photo to life! And what a cool way to do it by looking at the margins to see the marginal. I see what you are saying in the way she stands, the dress, the way she looks at the photographer. What a great detail about the "mission box." Lovely.
DeleteAhhh...this is my favorite of yours so far! I was hoping someone would do something with the writing on the photo! I kind of had to ignore it to make my story line work, but she needed to be able to tell her story. Maybe Iva wrote those words on the photo she sent to Henry. I hope they weren't mean to Not-Dorothy...
DeleteOh, I love these. I once read something that said no one is really dead until his or her name is spoken for the last time. This is why sometimes I say names out loud when I trace names on headstones.... All of these people are back alive now...thanks to you. xo
ReplyDelete