Wednesday, January 26, 2011

The Evil Toy Soldier


This image is on a large shopping bag that currently sits in my garage. I see it every time I pull the car in (and will until I figure out what to do with the bag's contents).

I think this fellow looks really mad. In the headlights he looks like he is going to come out of that bag and get me.

Just sayin'.

Anyway, this image makes me wonder about the power of objects and images. For example, in Lord of the Rings, there is one ring to rule them all - the ring is a powerful object.

Swords and wands are generally very phallic male symbols.

The pentagram is a powerful symbol, as is the cross and a crown of thorns.

When I was small, I saw images in everything. Clouds, tree branches, designs in the carpet or tile - anything I could find a picture in, I did. Some of these images stuck with me literally for years.

For example, when I rode the bus to school, there was a dinosaur down one of the back roads who greeted me every day for years. It was really a pile of brush with a large log in it. And then one Autumn I returned to school and the brush pile - and my dinosaur - was gone.

My grandmother's bathroom linoleum was made of speckles, but I could see a knight and a castle in it. I visited them every time I sat down to pee.

The monkey face on three-pronged electric outlets always disturbed me, so when we built our house I asked that they be placed upside down so I wouldn't see the eyes and nose.

I have found images in curtains and in bedspreads. I have rid myself of things in which I find images that seem somehow ominous or scary.

Which means that soon that evil toy soldier will be finding his way to the landfill, once I can figure out what to do with that ol' wedding dress that is stowed in that bag.

6 comments:

  1. oh that's funny, i've always done that too....i can find a face inside of any sort of pattern (floor tiles, shower tiles, etc...)

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  2. Sis,

    Suggestion on the wedding dress. Why don't you take the dress, or parts of it anyway, and any other small momentos you have from that special day, napkins cards, flowers, etc... and make a collage box to display? That's what I'm working on with the family history items of Grandpa's from WWII. Just an idea.

    Diddle

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  3. That's why you're a writer. You have a vibrant and creative personality and you see stories everywhere.

    How does the story end with the dress? I hope it has a happy ending.

    (By the way, I am glad I got to meet you too in real life!)

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  4. I used to see images in everything too. Still do but not as much. I wonder if it is a trait of writers.

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  5. If any of the fabric in the wedding dress is good I say give it to someone who loves sewing and creating with fabric... then throw the angry toy soldier bag in recycle. He's an ugly fellow who needs an attitude adjustment!

    Di

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  6. I see images everywhere too. We live in a log home and I'm always seeing faces and such in the patterns of the wood.
    That said, that soldier is seriously creepy.

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