A Peek Into Our Dollhouse
Photo by Amy LV
Click the arrow to hear me read this poem to you.
Students - Did you ever have a day when you sat down to write and had no idea what to write? I sure have. Sometimes it feels so scary, as if there are no ideas left in the world...or as if all of the good ones have been used by someone else. But you know what? This is never true. Poet Maya Angelou said, "You can't use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have." And this is completely true. Creativity is like love.
So, even when that "I don't know what to write" feeling sets in, I write. Today I looked around and just picked something I saw - the little girls in bed in our dollhouse. This dollhouse is so big that it cannot fit through most doorways in our home, so it will forever live in the living room, even when our children are all grown up. If you were to visit us, you could play with it!
Can you see that this whole poem is written in quatrains? Almost. One part is not. Why do you think I made that decision?
So, even when that "I don't know what to write" feeling sets in, I write. Today I looked around and just picked something I saw - the little girls in bed in our dollhouse. This dollhouse is so big that it cannot fit through most doorways in our home, so it will forever live in the living room, even when our children are all grown up. If you were to visit us, you could play with it!
Can you see that this whole poem is written in quatrains? Almost. One part is not. Why do you think I made that decision?
I am tickled that Nicole Gulotta has chosen my poem "Apple Pockets" for her guest post over at Jama's Alphabet Soup. She has paired the poem with a delicious-looking recipe for apple muffins which I plan to make this weekend...yum!
This week's Poetry Friday roundup is over at Tabatha's place, The Opposite of Indifference. Along with a lovely poem and this week's poem menu, Tabatha is planting seeds for Poetry Month, such a welcome winter idea!
Please share a comment below if you wish.
Like The Poem Farm on Facebook for more poems, articles, and poemquotes!
Love it, Amy - both the poem and the fact you have a permanent dollhouse in your living room. :)
ReplyDeleteSo true about creativity...though I am in that "what do I write" slump right now. Trying to follow the BIC method, but I'm antsy!
Art is a harsh taskmaster. Thanks for the soothing break. :)
Yes, they are real! And I also love that you have a dollhouse in your living room :). Such a sweet, gentle poem.
ReplyDeleteLove this poem, Amy! In our house the dolls are definitely real and my daughter's room is the doll house. I love the line:
ReplyDelete"Beneath my hands
they come to life."
It's what she does as often as possible. Thanks for sharing! =)
Nice to hear about putting the dolls to bed and all those sweet things children do, Amy. I have a raggedy Ann & Andy in a cradle for the "grandgirls" to play with at my house. I keep thinking I want to have a dollhouse my self someday, something for creating all those wonderful miniatures-very enticing! Congrats again on your coming book!
ReplyDeleteYes, they are real. I wish I could feel they were real like I used to.
ReplyDeleteHi, Amy. Your poems reminds me of the many years when my daughter's favorite things were her American Girl dolls. She could spend hours talking to them. We made them blankets, clothes and food (out of clay). I like that motor sound in the poem, too.
ReplyDeleteConnection alert!
ReplyDeleteI just shared this personal story with my classes this week: when I was leaving for college (or maybe it was for my first teaching job) I tried to put my dolls away in a trunk in the basement. I closed the lid on them. I went upstairs. I couldn't do it -- I rushed back down and took them out again -- they couldn't breathe, couldn't see what was going on in the world around them! They are sitting on the shelf in my (childhood bedroom) closet to this day.
Left brain says, "They're just dolls. What difference does it make if they're in a trunk?"
Right brain says, "They were alive when you were a child and therefore they are STILL alive."
Hmm...I think I know what I'm going to write about today...
I love that your dollhouse will be out all the time, even after your children are grown! At a community center near us, a dollhouse is on permanent display. It's under glass, so you can't move anything around, but I enjoy looking at all the little pieces.
ReplyDeleteI remember going shopping for dollhouse pieces when I was a child (my grandfather made a dollhouse), and it was such fun. It's how very wee they are that makes them seem as though they are part of another (alive) world.
When I was a child, I used to feel attracted towards the different kinds of dolls, but I never compelled my parents to spend money extravagantly, because they were not so rich. Now, when I have started earning, and our financial condition has improved, I bought the finest collection of Barbie doll for the small kids living in an orphanage, and we often play together.
ReplyDelete