The writing of Heather Cadenhead has been featured in Wild + Free, Relief: A Journal of Art and Faith, Literary Mama, and other publications. She publishes a monthly newsletter about mothering her non-speaking son through the lens of the Christian gospel.
Mannequin
by Heather Cadenhead
My sister and I played beneath the circular racks, listening to the swish, swish of clothes hangers gliding across metal rods. My mother pulled out a pencil skirt to examine the pattern. Then, I spotted her: a mannequin, draped in 1980s fashions. My mouth gaped at her soulless face. Be still, girls, my mother hissed. I stretched a palm to feel her silk dress. She wobbled, no longer a form but a sound: an ocean wave, collapsing onto itself, again and again – the roar of fiberglass shattering against tile. The fashionista lay, unrecognizable, in jagged, uncountable pieces. I peered into her vacant eyes, now mingled with broken shards. My mother gasped; an employee shuffled over with a broom. My cheeks burned scarlet. I’ve killed her.
This so perfectly captures that horrible childhood (and adulthood) moment when something fragile hits the floor…. 🫢
So interesting! Great poem! It took me back to my childhood...I was told off by a salesman in a department store for playing on the escalator (trying to go up the down escalator) while my mom was shopping nearby. I was mortified and never wanted to go in the store again.