Poets Salon: Dolls

POETS SALON

– 9/25/19

Hosted by Kath Abela Wilson

one by one

she rescues them
takes them home with her

dropped on shore
the ocean’s
driftwood dolls

~ Kath Abela

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“Found Barbie” (Photo – Bon Callahan)

Josie Hibbing

the sound
of a toy car unwinding
in the empty doll house
tonight I wish to sleep
in Barbie’s bed

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Doll given as a symbol of peace from US to Japan in 1923, Tsukuba, Japan (Photo – Kathabela Wilson)

Deborah P Kolodji

bridesmaids
but no groomsmen
only one Ken doll

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Chatty Cathy
painted mouths
of the other dolls

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a scarf’s red roses
an old doll stares
from its shelf

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Handmade doll by Toti O’Brien (Photo – Kathabela Wilson)

Pravat Kumar Padhy

toy museum–
the kids in different
dialects

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shopping arcade
kids busy gossiping
with the robots

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elephant tower
the kids gaze
skyward

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late evening
alone in the village road
I walk all along
in the winter breeze
recalling mother’s storytelling

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My mother’s doll collection art (Photo – Alexis Rotella)

Alexis Rotella

Lilacs breaking bud
in February
inside the haunted house
a forgotten doll
cries Mama

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Dolls: Quotes and Credits

Josie Hibbing is 48, a mother of eight children and a wife of a long-haul trucker. Josie is always busy but still finds time to write little poems at nights, when every one is asleep. A lot of her poems were inspired by her children and her every-day-life experiences. She says: “This poem came to me one late night when I was putting my children’s toys away.” Josie lives in Hartley, Iowa. She was born in Phillipines.

Deborah P Kolodji is the California regional coordinator for the Haiku Society of America and moderator of the Southern California Haiku Study Group. A former president of the Science Fiction Poetry Association, and author of four chapbooks of poetry, her first full-length book of haiku and senryu is Highway of Sleeping Towns, from Shabda Press. Debbie co-organized the 2013 HNA conference about the Queen Mary in Long Beach, California.

Pravat Kumar Padhy intellectualises: “Kids are the angels with divine blissfulness. Their smiles manifest the joy of living.” When they play with toys, Pravat feels, as if kids instill the brimming of nuanced consciousness within the inmates. Pravat lives in Bhubaneswar, India with his wife, Namita. He spends his time penning poems, the art of words and unfolding the science of the beauty of a flower ‘as a divine art, the colour is the physics, the aroma is its chemistry.’ Occasionally he visits at Indian Institute of Technology, Bhubaneswar to share his knowledge with the students.

Alexis Rotella has a new tanka book, Dancing the Tarantella. Poet Don Wentworth writes, “Alexis Rotella is a healer, lover and one of the preeminent English language poets working in Eastern forms today….her tanka and cherita highlight her great strengths–precision, compassion, sensual acuity and humor– all threaded skillfully into a quest to illuminate the heart of all things.” You can see, and order, some of Alexis’ art designs on her website.

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Kath Abela (left, holding a doll) and her cousin, with baby carriage, in Brooklyn.

♣ A note from Kath Abela:

> My introduction this time is in the form of a cherita, a little six line story. You can learn more about cherita, its origin, and even submit your own little stories to ai li, the originator and editor of the cherita journal.  > The Southern California Haiku Study Group, led by Deborah P Kolodji meets on the third Saturday of the month, 2:00 – 4:00 pm at the Hill Avenue branch of the Pasadena Public Library. All are welcome.  > Three of the poets have included a five line tanka in their selection. Read “What is Tanka” where you can also join ‘The Tanka Society of America’.

> This week, you can send some short poems, little stories, and a short bio with comments on the upcoming theme “Lost Toys” to Kath Abela “poetsonsite [at] gmail.com”. You may also suggest a theme and send a few short poems for a possible future feature.

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