The Last Doll (by Carol Smallwood)

The Last Doll
by Carol Smallwood

She’s the last doll I got for Christmas, the only one with long hair
and she sits with two other survivors grouped in conversation
in a pink dress with three shiny buttons without compare.

She has puffed sleeves, white shoes and stockings to wear
and a new place within the group in steady rotation;
she’s the last doll I got for Christmas, the only one with long hair.

The doll has no name as she seemed so rare
with braided long hair that deserved much admiration
in a pink dress with three shiny buttons without compare.

Sitting with the others she rules over them with flare,
her arms extended as if receiving ovations;
she’s the last doll I got for Christmas, the only one with long hair.

Still looking new, she has needed no repair
and sits very erect as fitting her station
in a pink dress with three shiny buttons without compare.

But of the survivors, she’s the one I could spare
because she’s not been held as often for validation;
she’s the last doll I got for Christmas, the only one with long hair
in a pink dress with three shiny buttons without compare.



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“The Last Doll” originally appeared in Wilderness House Literary Review (Autumn 2012 ). 

Carol Smallwood’s books include Women on Poetry: Writing, Revising, Publishing and Teaching, foreword by Molly Peacock (McFarland, 2012) on Poets & Writers magazine’s list of Best Books for Writers; Women Writing on Family: Tips on Writing, Teaching and Publishing (Key Publishing House, 2012); and Compartments: Poems on Nature, Femininity, and Other Realms (Anaphora Literary Press, 2011). Carol has founded, supports humane societies.

Fragments (by Carol Smallwood)

Fragments
by Carol Smallwood

     Fragments. The brilliant colors in the stained glass window of St. John’s I stared at while others went to communion; the scalloped edge of Aunt Heidi’s gloves; the restroom in the church basement with its stark light bulb and frayed string, the chipped porcelain sink; being startled when I saw someone with hair more gray than blonde before recognizing myself in the mirror; the angle of the bishop’s hat (what was it called?) in the church’s lobby picture; the deep satisfaction I’d felt seeing a run in Rachel’s nylons and gray roots of her Raggedy Ann red hair—hair so red that it’d looked like she’d been drinking too much Cherry Kool-Aid; Aunt Hester looking at me with narrowed eyes across a buffet table; the wedge-shaped, crew cut coach all in black except for his white socks–I remember Mark as a student snickering at his white socks.


* * * *

Excerpt from Lily’s Odyssey (print novel 2010) published with permission of All Things That Matter Press. Its first chapter was a finalist for the Eric Hoffer Award in Best New Writing. 

Carol Smallwood’s books include Women on Poetry: Writing, Revising, Publishing and Teaching, foreword by Molly Peacock (McFarland, 2012) on Poets & Writers magazine’s list of Best Books for Writers; Women Writing on Family: Tips on Writing, Teaching and Publishing (Key Publishing House, 2012); and Compartments: Poems on Nature, Femininity, and Other Realms (Anaphora Literary Press, 2011). Carol has founded, supports humane societies.