The Lost Doll Contest
Sponsored by: Charles Messina
Placed 2nd
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Barbie was its name…
To me how it came…
Difficult to proclaim!
By its side, I used to sit,
Leaving it not for a bit…
This, I promptly admit!
Call it not a doll, it’s my plea…
In it I found an innocent glee;
It was almost a sibling to me!
It was the month of May;
My cousins from Bombay,
Visited us for their short stay!
With my Barbie, they all played;
Their hands on it they all laid;
Cut it into pieces with a blade!
And threw it into a river, I was told;
My anger then was uncontrolled;
And till now, I am left unconsoled!
A brand new doll, with braids and freckled face,
was tossed aside, left caged, with plastic bars.
She eyed the blue-eyed spat with no embrace.
Though box was dinged, she’d not receive sad scars.
Ann’s clean though tossed in attic space; it’s dark.
It’s not how she’d imagined play; she’s bored.
Alone and lost without a friend - trademark
and popularity, boxed in cardboard.
One day the sun blazes, a blinding hue.
Stirred doll doesn’t know how long she’s been around.
Ann’s brought downstairs, unwrapped..she’s awed…she’s new.
A hug of excitement, for she’s been found.
Her girl gives her a rocker and a bed.
The kindest soul with freckles, hair deep-red.
When I was young, I named my doll Boyet
I played with him from sunrise to sunset
We’d some souvenir photos together
He was my precious gift from my godmother.
Our photo was framed and displayed at home
Showing his bald head, no need to comb
My mom had stitched tiny clothes for him
Along with mine, we were both looking prim.
One day, I played at the shore with my neighbors
Then built a small coconut hut far from the harbor
I brought Boyet for our role-play as a family
We slept there overnight with my dog, Willy.
Before dawn, an expected storm came
We all ran back home like a racing game
We left our toys and tools in our play house
Including Boyet wrapped in my old blouse.
When we returned the following day
Unimaginable wreckage was on display
Boyet got lost along with my playmates’ dolls
I cried out loud scaring all the seagulls.
(this is a true story, mine )
When I was just a tot, my tonsils got infected all the time
so my parents took me to the hospital right on time
All I could remember was a majestic doll with a pretty face
and eyes that opened and closed, with a hat of pretty lace
As he scooped me in his arms he gave me this doll
so I carried it with me everywhere I went, she was tall
but one day I fell asleep on the sidewalk, cause for alarm
still the doll was tucked safely under the crook of my arm
When I awoke the doll was gone, for years I did pine
and I wept bitterly for that doll that once was mine
a few years later as I grew grew up one day,
I found it sitting on the curb waiting for garbage day
It was all beaten up dirty, with missing limbs
and suddenly my memory dims
Was this the same doll dad gave me ?
I had to be ! It had to be !
Although the years did pass, my memory is like a feather
light and airy, like my dolly and I never could, forget her.
I once had a doll named Claire
She's like a maiden fine and fair
When I was with her, my world was bright
Like everything was just alright
But then one morning, she was lost
She disappeared just like a ghost
As to what reason, I don't know
What I know is I miss her so
June 24, 2023
2nd
We’ve picnicked at the local park
It’s time to go, as it’s getting dark
But Lucy’s lost her small rag doll
And can’t sleep without Millie Moll
We have to find Lucy’s special toy
The roundabout doesn’t bring us joy
We search the swings, climb the slide
Please find my doll, poor Lucy cried
Tears start to drip down Lucy’s face
Her doll has vanished without trace
Rain is falling, our clothes get damper
So I go to pack up our picnic hamper
Beside the cookies I find Millie Moll
Look Lucy, here’s your favorite doll
Oh I’m so sorry mummy, guess I forgot
But she loves those cookies such a lot!
A beaming smile lights up Lucy’s face
The rain turns heavy and so we race
Along the muddy path to our front door
Lucy has her doll, she’s safe once more
It was love at first sight for Eloise,
Sweet child who always said, 'Thank you" and "please."
A doll Santa brought her on Christmas morn.
To Eloise, a baby girl was born.
The little one was a doting mother
and loved her dolly, wanting no other
But one day, Eloise woke from sleeping
Baby was gone ~ Eloise was weeping.
The family searched in many places.
Everyone wore sad frowns on their faces
No doubt about it, Baby Doll was lost
Eloise cried all night. She turned and tossed.
Come morning, Pearl the Sheltie, raised her head
Eloise yelled, "Baby Doll's in Pearl's bed!!"
That pup wanted a baby of her own
instead of pull toys, or a chewy bone!
Now, Eloise and Pearl are quite content
They carry their dolls into a play tent
Like two little mommies they go to sleep
With babes at their side, they don't make a peep.
My Lost Doll, My Best Friend of All.
Have you seen her
She's about ten inches tall.
Her hair is the color of honey,
Long beautiful curls,
She is so lucky.
In the corner she sat,
watching and cheering me on
And telling me this and that.
She always listened to my day,
We shared our secrets,
And kept others at bay.
Invited her friends over for tea
Gossiping, games and comradery
I miss her so dearly.
Who ever has her
Where ever she has went
This torment I can’t endure.
Please if you should see
My doll, my friend
Please bring her back to me.
The little girl had lost her doll,
Searching up here, searching down there,
The doll was ragged and so small,
Where had she gone now? Where, oh, where?
She looked under her little bed,
She looked under her bedroom chair,
"She must be so scared", the girl said,
She searched for her doll everywhere,
She looked in her big brother's room,
But she couldn't find her anywhere,
Eyes full of tears, heart filled with gloom,
Off she went, with her mom to share,
Mom said, "Oh dear, no need to cry,
Your doll took a bath with Brown Bear,
Look out, I think now, she's all dry,
Your dolly's clean and bright and fair."
A pretty little dolly lay inside a toy box.
Bright blue eyes this sweet doll had and long golden locks.
She was the favored doll of a child named Mary Sue,
the only human being to whom the doll was true.
A week had passed slowly - then two, then three, then four.
The doll lay sadly lonely as time passed more and more.
Oh where oh where is Mary Sue? Then into the doll’s mind
there came this thought: I must be lost and just too hard to find.
The sad and sweet small dolly didn’t have a clue
that Mary Sue liked boys now and that Mary knew
exactly where her little dolly lay,
for she was a big girl now. With dolls she did not play.
Mary later married and had a girl that seemed
the image of her mother. Mary never dreamed
her little doll lay missing her when she let her child comb
through the old toy box when they visited back home.
The little doll was startled by a familiar sound
and the look of Mary Sue’s face. Oh, joy, she had been found.
The doll believed the girl was Mary, not just Mary’s kin.
She also never ever guessed that lost she’d never been!
When I was a little girl I loved all my dolls,
but, there was one that was very special to me;
some sat on my bed, some upon shelves on the walls,
one day we took a trip to places filigree !
My best doll was called Suzanne after my sister,
she was an angel in heaven in God's strong arms;
I slept with Suzanne and at night often kissed her,
we came home to red flames and fire truck alarms !
I ran towards the house screaming for my Suzanne,
mom held me in her arms as I wept- dead again;
our house was gone and we went to stay with gran,
for days I cried and could not even speak my pain !
Mom bought me a new Suzanne but I called her Anne,
she came everywhere with me even to my school;
I kept her safe with me- oh, yes that was my plan,
at our church on Sunday she learnt the golden rule !
In truth, I never forgot my very best doll,
she was gone forever and forever was lost;
sometimes, when it is quiet I can hear her call,
though Anne, I so love- and she will never get tossed !
There were 4 beds, a mom, a dad, and a grandmother.
At first 4, but later on, there were 6 rooms.
There were 8 girls in a large household.
There were 4 boys and a dog named Jack.
There were plenty of toy guns for the boys,
but 8 dolls for the girls were never seen. Perhaps
there were 6 or maybe 7 at best but never more,
because at least one was lost and never came back.
That lost doll had a name like all the other dolls.
So, losing her was more than just plastics and cloth.
It was a most beautiful doll whose name was Madison.
Madison was a special gift from Grandmother Myrtle
to the youngest girl whose name was Mary, who never
was able to get over Madison's being lost. I must add
that no one was to blame for the loss of Madison.
Grandmother Myrtle replaced Madison and with teary eyes,
she handed the new doll to Mary. Of course, she and everyone
knew that there would never be another Madison. Everyone
loved Madison deeply, but because of the loss of Madison,
the entire household learned that Life is filled with losses,
but we learn to live with them and move on.
I was a Tomboy to the core,
Went to Kindergarten – hoping for more
Than merely dolls and tea sets but some things
Like cars and trucks, airplanes with wings
All the things that make a boy’s heart sing
Also brought me to dreaming of every good thing
Despite the tomboy who lives inside this lass,
When I entered the kindergarten class
I was met with a doll, Raggedy Ann - while
This new teacher, with her kindest smile
Offered me Ms. Raggedy – I accepted her
Despite the thoughts that came in such a blur
This is mutiny, revolution… this could create
A uprising in my soul, but patient, I’d wait…
Ms. Raggedy, once I’d secreted her beneath
My desk - I realized that, once lost, I’d bequeath
Her to my friend – since then, I’ve decided to become
A poem writer – writing about the lost doll who would overcome
The tomboy who had won her as a trading tool
This lost doll who she’d market became the best in school!
Millie our three-year-old
With tears that rolled
Down her pink little cheeks
As she looks around and peeks
Under her dolls bed
And under its bedspread.
I went out to see what was wrong,
It was going on too long.
"Mommy, I cannot find my doll.
I had her wrap in her shawl
And laid her here in her bed."
I look up our yorkie has fled
Into the house to his bed.
There under his chin laid the doll.
"No. No Loll. It’s not your doll."
A dainty smile flashed on the lively face
of the doll my daughter had, she loved the most,
and she could hear her speak while in embrace.
This is what the smiling doll said before getting lost.
I am utterly amazed when I look around me,
while with you on the road I often go out,
angry faces of high strung rushing people I see,
without any rhyme or reason they shout.
Faces contorted in the grip of consternation,
defined by the contours of gloomy mask.
They never try to give you the feeling of elation,
for them to be happy seems a difficult task.
When the stony faces of these people I view,
the glint of joy I find in the eyes of none.
A confusing thought upsets and pains me, I ask you,
where in your world all the smiles have gone.
One day I’ll go away to a fairyland distant,
you may miss me, but won’t be able to track.
If you can make people smile in an instant,
in your longing arms I’ll love to come back.
Related Poems