Lily Hoang & Carmen Gimenez-Smith
HUMMELTOPIA
I.
Hummel #3128: Mary Ingalls Hummel
Height: 2.07”
Mary’s copper bangs are bobbypinned straight back, an imitation of her hairstyle from the television series. Her saddle shoes leave tracks of mud. With her left hand, she drags a small stack of belted topographic books. A walking stick is an extension of her right hand, natural. She is wearing a delicate peach dress, color no longer matters to her, an abstraction, more imagination than memory.
II.
Hummel #708120: Lethal Ray Hummel
Height: 3.2 inches
A tousled blonde is crouched in a field of daisies, which are mostly painted on to the figure’s pedestal.
One rosy knee bears the bright red stain of a fall. The black and red dirndl is adorned with tiny red anarchy symbols.
She’s been to other wars. One was across, it seemed, a wall of vines set on its back.
Brambles in everyone. Another was smoke-filled and everyone became bats.
All around her: the echo of pluck breaking open. A cushion of that sound surrounds the figurine, so it’s hard to hold her without wanting to let go.
Inside her head is a scene: teeny tiny airplanes swarm her dead father’s head nestled in a crown of daisies. He taught her revolt.
His private diary had recipes for word bombs and poetry missiles.
III.
Hummel #3192013: PTSD Hummel
Height: 0.4”
A mass in fetal position, desert camouflaged. His hands form a shelter over the head. Beside him: one Dragunov Sniper Rifle, one Colt M1911, two bottles of water, one Bible, King James, a crumpled blanket.