ONCE UPON A TIME

(assemblage sculpture)

She lived in a dingy place.
Broken-down shacks all around
There were old men, carrying broken dolls
Dirty, old dolls they had found in the dirt
There was a pool of water
with a lot of garbage floating in it
There was screaming everywhere---
big people shouting, and babies crying
Her mother kept saying that some day
they would move to a better place
There was a better neighbourhood
just across the way
The little girl could see it
when she stood in the middle of the pool
She turned around and around
Standing there, on the water
she could see it all

c.MarleneAzoulai2003