Tuesday, April 5, 2016

Iva




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



6 comments:

  1. 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.

    I'm loving this project.

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  2. Mine for the day (or every other day...) is about fathers and sons.

    http://poemplace.edublogs.org/2016/04/05/pa/

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  3. 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?


    "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

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 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.

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    2. Ahhh...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...

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  4. Oh, 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