Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


THE DOLL BELIEVERS by CLARENCE MAJOR

Poet Analysis

First Line: THIS LIFELESS CONSTRUCTION
Last Line: To imagine such a thing alive
Subject(s): CHILDREN; DOLLS; PARENTS; TOYS; CHILDHOOD; PARENTHOOD;

This lifeless construction,
Yellow hair curled and twisted,
The forever motionless face of rubber,
The dark marked eyebrows,
The flexible pug nose,
Spongy red cheeks,
Camel's-hair eyebrows
Moving up and down.
Lifting her up, her eyes fly open,
They stare into space --
An unmoving blueness.
Those never winking, moving balls,
Controlled from the inside,
And that thick rubber body,
The imprint of a navel,
The undersized hands,
The thick soft knees,
The screwed-on head,
The air hole behind her neck,
All this in its lifelessness
Gives me a feeling
That children are amazing
To imagine such a thing alive.


Used with the permission of Copper Canyon Press, P.O. Box 271, Port Townsend, WA
98368-0271, www.cc.press.org



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