Blue jeans and a cable knit sweater
Dark red polished nails, not too long.
She always has at least a pound of butter in the fridge
There is something coming out of the oven every night
Her house has more than one fake rooster
The dinner table always has a seasonal center piece
Screened in porch with a pitcher of sun tea
The back yard over looks the apple orchard that is next to the corn field
Her apple pies are always made in multiples of five
The office with the french doors showing a wall of family photographs
She always host parties as an excuse to make a tablescape
Her family is a direct reflection on her own character
Before leaving the house you must be put together
Pearls and lipstick are as important as your car keys
She worked at one point at an insurance company but now is a stay at home mom
Making laundry an art and having every room out of a Pottery Barn catalog
The next door neighbors all gather on weekends for cards and talk about the family down the street
In the summer the lawns all have a woven pattern
The world is beyond the city limits and doesn't touch anywhere she knows
Crime, politics and debt are just stories on FOX
Church on Sundays are a way to show off your perfect family
All together, put together, pray together.
Conservative views where women are mothers and thats an honor
Dinner every night will be made from scratch, no frozen meals in her home
Dinners start with kids setting the table
Plates having at least one vegetable and one protein
Pies, cakes and trifles for dessert
Homework and 9:30 bedtimes for the kids, no exceptions
The kids all have their own sports
She goes and cheers for them each
She organizes gift bags and treats for the team
Each mom trying to out do the next
Team dinners and practices always early and the coaches favorite
I grew up in a small town in Ohio where everyone knew everywhere and the mothers were all in competition with each other. 'Keeping up with the Johnsons' would be putting it lightly. The moms would always be trying to be more involved than the next and to have their kids in the paper. It didn't do a thing for me so I left.
Andrea,
ReplyDeleteI like how you try to show multiple sides of your chosen place. You start with physical description and likely possessions, then move on to activities and characteristics. The persona you've created has a good mix of positive qualities that are tempered by critiques, which makes it seem genuine instead of sentimental. You've obviously put some thought into the look and sound of the poem, and one of my favorite lines is "All together, put together, pray together" because the repetition in it emphasizes that this public image relies on the entire family in order to work. Nicely done!
I throughly enjoyed reading this post, I loved the different aspects of your hometown that you brought together to create one personification. It really spoke to me and I can visualize not only the kind of place you are describing, but the people and families that inhabit it as well. It is evident that this is a very well written post through the ease of visualization for the reader.
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