Brown Satin Baby Dress

It’s a small brown satin baby dress, with red trim.

A butterfly and olive branches daintily

hand-embroidered on the front and sleeves.

Pinned to it, a note simply says “Lillian’s dress

made out of part of my wedding dress.”

At first you imagine the love and pride sewn into

the little dress by a doting young mother.

You may even run your hand over the cool,

shiny smoothness of this dubious emblem

of tenderness.

But when you discover the cruel truth

you wonder: how could an adoring mother’s

hands stitch quiet affection for her child

at one time, then use those same hands

later to betray with vulgar torment?

Naida Lavon

Write Around Portland Workshop

Portland Art Museum

Fall 2010

Lillian was my mother, and for so many years I ignored the tension between them. It was after they were both gone that I was told, by another family member, how cruel my grandmother actually was to my mother. It changed how I feel when I look upon this dress.

This was my submission in the Portland Art Museum project “Sacred Objects.” As part of the Write Around Portland Workshop held at the museum, we were to bring an object that was special to us and write a piece about it. Then we were videoed sitting next to the object and reading our piece. This story is now part of the permanent collection of the ongoing project at the art museum. They will be inviting the public to come in and make recordings to add to the project. It was very exciting to be part of this!