NaPoWriMo #10 - Audience of Dolls

Audience of Dolls
     a poem from an exhibit of art dolls*

All around the dining room and down the hall, dozens of smiling
Carmen Mirandas in every imaginable outfit witness this meal:
They watch the diners tasting, the payers and the waiters bustling
watch Mr. & Mrs. with red wine in shining glasses, enjoying

the bouquet, the color, the dry spark of it, not caring if the legalists see.
Carmen and her sisters listen, ears peeking from wrapped
hair, smiling artfully, hopeful, as the beautiful youths speak
of their effusive readiness, so eager to leap into possibility's lap.

And the dark haired friend of the family, with his I'm-still-alive smile
innocent in it all, saying little, enjoying the occasion.
All around the dining room and down the hall
the talk winds on, in French, in Spanish, a hint of German

English in multiple accents, and food, such food. And the
Auntie in her white-haired frailty, tasting the chocolate cake
and the cousin in her exuberant reserve, looking back at
the dolls looking, listening to the doll talk  from their painted mouths

as they survey humanity with artist eyes looking
all around the dining room and down the hall.
And it was good, the dolls agreed. It was all deliciously good.

- Mar Walker

*The dolls were and are an art exhibit of "Spirit Dolls" created by artist Paula Brinkman which are on display at Carole Peck's Good News Cafe.

http://www.good-news-cafe.com/Gallery/paulabrinkmanmarch/    See the picture---> which is a webshot from of the Good News Website:

The prompt was to write about a celebration. I chose to write about the most recent celebration I'd been to which was on Easter afternoon. We were celebrating a new job for my cousin's son who was moving  out of the country with his lovely wife. (and has already left I think) . (Since I am a heathen, I was not celebrating the religious holiday, can't speak for the others, I think they were...) We didn't cook, clean or wash up, or have left overs that aren't on the diet.... And Carole Peck is a culinary genius .  The food is complex, fresh, delicious. And I didn't have to dress up, and I didn't have to pay the bill,  (thank Zeus' tail for that or I'd still be washing dishes.... Zeus is a cat I know...).