The votes are in and the ‘Dummies’ have it for February 2018. Jane Salmons’ poem – ‘stunning’ ‘vibrant’ ‘fun’ – with its ‘brilliant’ image thoroughly appealed, occasionally disconcerted, and marks the first time a Word & Image piece has been chosen as an IS&T Pick of the Month.
Jane is a teacher living in the Black Country. She is currently studying for an MA in Creative Writing and has previously been published in Snakeskin, I am not a Silent Poet and Creative Ink. She also spends her precious free time creating handmade photomontage collages.
She has asked that her £10 ‘prize’ be donated to Age UK.
Dummies
We ride the escalators in pairs
upwards past the plastic palms,
the static rapids. Our flawless skin
shines blue in the half-light, the smell
of palma violets hangs in the air.
We dare not speak, nor touch,
for fear of waking the blinking eye
while above us, through the criss-cross roof
of steel and glass, the planets glow.
We do not know their names,
or if we do, forgot them long ago.
The hum of neon guides us
to our gods – Gucci, Prada,
Michael Kors. Consumption courses
through our veins driving us higher
to our great design.
********
Voters comments included:
Beautifully written and captures the manic compulsive behaviour of affluenza.
It is so current and emotive as our younger generations are riding that escalator to consumerism.
Hugely evocative of the fashion-thick world we live in.
Jane has the ability to evoke a true and understandable atmosphere – I’m transported to the very place or feeling she is describing so beautifully in her poems.
Just love it – simple
A haunting and evocation piece, illustrated to perfection by Jane’s accompanying montage.
It’s a truly original piece of writing and brings shop dummies to life!
… not only so original in its conception but because of the careful crafting and execution of the poem.
Left field subject, finely crafted
Clever, thought provoking + brilliant image is a bonus
… a vivid description of materialism. Consumerism is sometimes our god.
I love the way she adds a surreal originality to the details in the visual image, and the poise of the lines.