Sorry Teddy

There was a period of time
in the wider world when
one wouldn’t have dared

to have something made
in Germany. Anyone and
everyone who was German

had to hide — in Argentina.
German works — shunned.
There was a dead silence —

or worse — at the mention
of anything German-made.

My mother was afraid to buy
my older sister a Steiff bear —
though of the highest quality.

She wanted my sister to have
the very best animals to take
to her new Ivy League college.

“All the girls have Steiff animals
on their beds at college,” she said
— though our family wasn’t even

allowed to have a hairbrush made
in Germany. Sorry, sis — no teddy.

. . . . .

Poet: Susan Powers Bourne
Source: “Perfect Vision” by Julie Hecht
and The Geffrye Museum of the Home
Process: Pick and mix