War child – LIFE AS A HUMAN

GIPSPUPPE (GYPSUM DOLL)

Purple violets. Dandelions.
At the edge of a village road,

a child bringing an eyeless doll to her father.
“Clank, clank,” they fall.
“I’ll put the eyes back,” apa says.
But forgets his promise.

War refugees from Budapest:
summer of 1946,
Mother and Father, four daughters,
Grandmother Kisanyuka.

Schillerswiesen, Bavarian Woods.
A cold mountain stream.
Shiny black scarab beetle.

Tossed by a child her Gipspuppe:
pigtailed four-year-old,

trying to escape the stink of the dunghill.
I miss my doll and want
to bring her home again,
but I leave her there—

She has holes in her face.

Photo credit:

Photos courtesy of Ilona Martonfi. Public Domain.

Guest Author Bio

Ilona Martonfi
Ilona Martonfi A first book of poems, Blue Poppy, was published with Coracle Press in 2009. A second collection, Black Grass, (Broken Rules Press) published 2012. Poems have appeared in Vallum, Accenti, The Fiddlehead, Serai, and various other magazines. Poet, editor, teacher. Founder and producer/host of The Yellow Door and Visual Arts Centre Poetry and Prose Readings, co-founder of Lovers and Others. I won the QWF 2010 Community Award.