Ania Walwicz

I always had such a good time, good time, good time girl. Each and every day from morning to night. Each and every twenty-four hours I wanted to wake up, wake up. I was so lively, so livewire tense, such a highly pitched little. I was red, so red so red. I was a tomato. I was on the lookout for the wolf. Want some sweeties, mister? I bought a red dress myself. I bought the wolf. Want some sweeties, mister? I bought a red dress for myself. I bought a hood for myself. Get me a hood. I bought a knife.
...

she is sitting down sitting down little legs come round i lift
them ten the my legs come round oh she was a nasty girl just
they were giggling talking about me then i can hardly screw a
courage things get so still I was all listen to a silence the
dishes are crashing in stacking in a little theatre stacking the
dishes wrecking one on top of another there's dirty washing
i'll just roll a broom to clean up my head the will you get up
off the floor she wanted to be so l'élégant but now she wears a
dressing gown some one to identify then who is speaking
there's a voice in my head saying that the fever of my darling
is so discreet so secret then the fever of my beloved is so
silent and secret like a little fire i will light a match and it
burns they light a fire in my head a dressing gown then to lay
down but i won't then little feet come i will wear sock a sock
they keep my feet warm then too arm it's a cold night in a
hot night how do you feel little arms a come too the arms
sticking out they then the fingers all five then all stretched
out the hand sitting the fingers are walking they they are
going to a dance then they just go and dance the two hands
are dancing the fingers are walking i will do a march no not a
march but a dance with two hands that are pairs look at then
them dance then they must be in love i saw that in a film he
dancing she is sitting down i will have a spotlight a night light
in my head then just a harsh light on me just to save
electricity talking all alone the what do you hear little voices
come on a tape saying my name then i will tap a floor they
did taps then i will stand up and tap with my foot for taps i
will tap a floor then she said please forgive me please forgive
me but why should i i was just feeling a poor little
misunderstood genius oh nobody knows this oh [ . . . ]
...

Cherry, cherry pie. Sugar baby. Baked these pies in New York. Very bright, very red. Cherry pie time now, then. That's how it began. After midnight at three a.m. They put these cherries on the line. The tired bakers get a blood nose. I once saw this boy with a blood nose. I once saw this boy. Only once. Left me with this edge, this salty taste in my mouth. I bit my tongue. This cherry. I was walking in the big bad black night and cherry came along. Be my cherry. Be so merry. If you marry me. I was so lonely. Somebody come and hold me. Somebody did do. He does do. Anybody will do. Anyone does. This cherry pie time at three a.m. Hot as hell. Can't sleep then. Working so hard in America. I bake this big, red pie. I put these sliced cherries in a glass. I put the stick through one. Cherry, cherry baby. He was the only one. Who was with me. Altogether with me. This soldier with one wooden leg. We were travelling second class. We were going on hard, wooden seats. He gave me some cherries. Big dark ones. And juicy. Wild ones. This boy gives me a cherry. This cherry time. Cherries in this basket, strawberries on my plate. I have this birthmark. This goat, she gave me my bag back. She found it. My bag with the cherry. That I had my slippers on. This cherry bag I found. This cherry I ate. This cherry jam I'm cooking. This red pie I'm baking. My mother, she beat me. Made my nose run. Red lady. Cherry time.
...

i sew me i get a packet of needles i'm a needle now i'm sharp tip with a little eye i go right in i make me better i make me i sew me needles and pins that's how it begins i start needles with i sew me good fly stitch star cross stitch centre in hold fold pin lines to make body to make arms turn raw edge i sew me a skin i can make me anything i make me some better now i make me into i make me anything i like feel do i want a rubber willy sewn yes i'll sew it i'll sew it on i do i needle am sharp as sharp tip top i do what i want hold work thimble i push me in middle finger hem fasten stitch me i sew me i make me best girl for me had to take me apart black skirt wore out i sew me boy girl i make a girl for me hold in place cut lift corner seed stitch from top down start with head run thread top edge ric-rac braid bride for me open seam huckback join in tape colour in i sew me good me for me thanks hem stitch top sew stitch i sharp little needle i make me big i stuff me fill me in tack hem herring bone new suit to live on and on i make me better than top sew chain-stitch fasten fasten i go right inside blanket stitch i sharp needle i make me a girl boy cross stitch over whip chain stitch i sew page letters i sew me up i got torn i make me a dress to wear back stitch i never come undone again right side on bring needle out and in i last forever i'm strong material i sew me good now hem fold measure up i'm tall i make me tall mark on i make me a sarah a willy i can be any i want i make body i sew me i didn't have any i didn't have any body i made me i make me till i am done and ready to fit attach pin pleat work tack start with a knot cut out sharp tack hold firm stitch me i'm a needle in i sew me needle i make me i wasn't any body i make me i made me i sew me i sew me for years fold pleat daisy stitch letter by letter join two strips i was so torn i repair me strips joined this is sew me here class stem stitch i make me fly stitch magic chain-stitch i'm the best made girl i'm better than what you see around i'm made well up tack zigzag cross stitch i sew me i needle am so sharp i make me buttons i press me with hot iron i do a firm line i sew me on i cut out pattern i know how i want to be when i'm done with me when i'm really ready i'm needle now i sew me a girl in letters run whip chain stitch darn border fill in over fly straight stitch run daisy blanket work from left to right this is my sampler each letter sewn on my page
...

We were so big there and could do everything. When you have lots you know it. Lucky and lucky and money. My father was the tallest man in the world. Here we were nothing. There vet in the district and respect. The head of the returned soldiers and medals. Here washed floors in the serum laboratory. Shrinking man. I grow smaller every day. The world gets too big for me. We were too small for this big country. We were so little. We were nothing. We were none and naught and no money. We were no speak. There we were big and big time. Here we were so little. Hardly any. We grew tiny. Scared lost not knowing how to speak. At the mercy of other people to put us up. We didn't amount to much. There I was good at school. Here they put me in a grade lower. We grew smaller in height. We were reduced. We had a smaller area. Before we had a house. And here we had only one room to be in. I had big ideas before and here I didn't know how to say what I wanted to be. Was no one and nothing at all. I didn't belong anywhere. I was hardly here. Waiting for people to pick me up after school. And I forgot my address and wouldn't know what to say to anybody. And if they didn't pick me up I'd stand there all night and wouldn't know what to do at all. I was so small. The shower was too big for me. When you have plenty you can be kind. Father goes away. Mother goes away. They had room to move. Now we didn't have any. We were put in a box. We are so poor and all together. I used to think how nice that could be. But it wasn't nice. And we were at one another. We turned on one another. And quarrelled. And I ran away. And he ran away. And I didn't go to school one day. And we went to the golf links. And sat on a bench and escaped. And I got a cold and stayed in bed. And I was unhappy. And we were lost. And he could not do his job. And had to pass exams. And we didn't have any money. And the landlord came. Two little girls hid under the bed. He saw through the window and felt sorry. I had to be old early and ashamed of what happened. We are going to travel he said. Your name will be Anne. Your name will be Mary. I was hoping they'd catch us near the border. But they didn't. And we travelled in the white snow that was nowhere. And in the blue ocean that was nowhere. To get to a place where we were less and had less and were less and less and grew smaller every day.
...