April is National Poetry Month. For the past four years, I have joined my friend Mary Lee, at POETREPOSITORY and YEAR OF READING in writing a poem every day for a month. This year, Mary Lee's theme is BYGONES. She has selected thirty vintage photographs from a collection she found at her mom's house in Burlington, Colorado, and is writing from one photograph every day. I'm not sure if I will write from Mary Lee's photographs every day, or if I will see if I can find some of my own. For the past few years, we have been joined by several other amazing poets- Kevin Hodgson and Steve Peterson.
"The girl with the curls is Dorothy"
And that other one,
with the dark hair, no curls,
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.
(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.
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
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
and the store bought dress.
Someday, I'll be like Dorothy.
(c) Carol Wilcox, 2016
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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