Oregon
Literary
Review
Vol. 3, No. 1

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Virginia Shank
THE FRIGIDAIRES OF IDAHO
Poem and Claymation


Play the claymation (wmv).

YouTube version:


 

 

The Frigidaires of Idaho

 

retire to empty, long-grassed lands

sprawled at the foot of Paradise Ridge.

Warm at last, they hum entire songs, glad to range

 

beyond electricity’s single drone, happy

for the sun, which fills the leftover spaces

all those casseroles never could.

 

They dream of frolicking,

their curlicued dark dorsals

rising and falling like dolphins. 

 

Doors turned to the sky, they remember

the crayoned drawings they held

close to their cold, magnetic skins,

 

as they wait for the children

who climb in to pretend, believe

the rockets, submarines, pirate ships

with sterns that cut boldly through

the sea of rolling greens and golds.

 

Who could blame the fridges for wanting

to preserve such simple dreams

and hold the children safe, lullabied

by stories of their disappearing lights?