Weird Little Creations

Dolls - heck, what am I supposed to write about you?

I know you can inspire fierce and lasting devotion among humankind but I've never owned one, never played with one, never bought one for either of my daughters (they preferred furry toys) and frankly, you unnerve me with your inflexible expressions and your too big eyes...


There is a perfectly serviceable Greek-derived word for the fear of dolls: pediophobia. It's not a condition I suffer from personally, don't get me wrong - I just don't like the weird little creations -  but I use it as an imaginative point of departure for this dark new poem, a cautionary tale ...

The Doll-Maker's Son
He never shed a tear
when his mother passed away.
It wasn't done. No display of emotion
from the doll-maker's son.
He'd sit in the sweet-smelling sawdust
on his father's workshop floor
after school, all unawares,
and play with the parts
which the doll-maker discarded.
Poorly-turned heads
with blank stares and no hair
he would dextrously wire
onto imperfect torsos
sporting weird reject limbs,
flawed arms and splintered legs
that never merited a hand or foot.
He'd sew them clothes
but took care never to love
these mannequin grotesques
which always met the same fate,
to be fed as fuel into the workshop stove.

In later years when he'd become
an iron man of rank and power,
his bounden duty was to send
imperfect girls and boys
into that final caustic, cleansing shower.
He sometimes fought to stifle a sigh
as he pulled the lever down,
though he never shed a tear. It wasn't done.

However,
when the mournful creaking
of the cattle trucks
snaking into camp at night
managed to infiltrate his dreams,
became the noise his father's lathe would make,
then he might wake up screaming
and not know why.

Apologies for the somewhat gloomy subject matter. Blame it on the shadow of the time of year and the ongoing shambles of Brexit and Oxit (the latter being the ongoing campaign to prise the Oystons away from our football club). How will it all end? Answers next week - that's the upcoming blog theme, by the way.

Thanks for reading. Be kind, stay positive, S :-)