singsonged
Mother Chang singsonged:
“Lightly, touch yuh needle
into cloth vuhly lightly.”
I tugged and twisted,
my eleven-year-old face
as sour as calamansi.
I bunched brown yarn
into obstinate curls
peeking out of Santa’s cap:
pompom-tipped, velvety
pouch zippering closed
to become a doll’s face.
Mother Chang warned:
“Lightly, hold yuh cloth
cuhfully or it gets duhty!”
I clutched and pulled
at that Grade Four project,
vexed with “lightly…lightly!”
A doll’s face, at last:
shiny black button eyes,
lipstick-smudged cheeks,
felt swatch red lips.
I was struck by the
smiling wonder.
Mother Chang’s eyes sparkled
when she saw my doll bag.
Its gold handle glinted
where I propped it
on a pile of books,
beside my mud-caked bike.
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Submitted on August 01, 2010
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 36 sec read
- 1 View
Quick analysis:
Scheme | AXBACC XXXAAC AXAAAB AXXXXX AXAAXX |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 710 |
Words | 120 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 6, 6, 6, 6, 6 |
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"singsonged" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 4 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/84191/singsonged>.
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