A big thank you to Jenn Monroe, editor of Extract(s), for publishing a 3 poem excerpt from Doll God this first day of May.
Excerpt: Luanne Castle
Filed under Doll God, Dolls, Literary Journals, poems about dolls, Poetry, Poetry book, Poetry Collection, Publishing, Writing
I liked the way the toddler doll told her tale of horrors and children’s mischief, until she became an object to sit on a rocking chair. Poor baby doll!
I liked the way you call yourself a ‘witch,’ Luanne, who captured the person behind glass. This was a clever turn of tale of ‘Snow.’
The poem that ‘resonated the most’ with me, was your disembodied doll parts poem, where it is called an “American Girl.” The fact remains, most of the dolls of this particular teen-ager type were mainly ‘blondes’ and did not represent many of us, while we grew up. I tried to buy dark brunettes, also liked the Tammy dolls, who had small chests and more of a straight up and down look, not as slight as Skipper.
This poem reminded me of the way my oldest daughter had a project where she took friends in fancy dresses missing something, shoes or a top or dress on backwards for photography class at Columbus College of Art and Design. One time having her younger sister bend her leg backwards and sideways makes me think of how children play with dolls. Only when they grow older do they tend to be more careful with dressing and posing them.I hope other readers may be motivated by my saying that I filled in a request form for the Delaware County District Library to purchase, “Doll God.” This makes sense for those with limited space or not enough book shelves, and to have it available to local communities.
Robin, I LOVE your library idea!! What a fabulous idea–thank you so much!
And I love the idea of that art project. I keep thinking I’d like to play with taking photos of dolls the way that mareymercy does (her photos are on her blog and on my website, too).
So true–it really hit me about the blonde dolls when my daughter (with her gorgeous black hair) wanted dolls. As a kid I liked identifying with dolls and images of girls with brown hair (as opposed to blonde or black) because it always seemed like early 60s culture was saying women were one or the other, whereas I always felt ‘in the middle” LOL. Seems so stupid now when it was the (especially) African American girls who really were not seeing “themselves” in the culture. Look how long it took to have a Black Disney princess!!!
Luanne! We both have books about dolls, though yours is much more literary and lyrical. Can’t wait to read. It’s in my Amazon shopping cart and will be mine as soon as I buy $12 more worth of stuff, so that I qualify for free shipping. P.S. Can I interview for my blog after I finish “Doll God”? Cheers and have a great weekend.
Cinthia, woo hoo! I think I checked out your fascinating sounding novel before, but it’s only in Kindle, right? Can you email me at writersite.wordpress[at]gmail.com?
SO very lovely.
Thank you so much. Very kind of you!