Significant Objects: Porcelain Scooter

Listen to the Song “Figurines” by Teddy Blanks, with Patrick Albertson on Guitar

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Significant Objects is a much-discussed experiment conducted by Joshua Glenn and Rob Walker. Their hypothesis: if a talented writer invents a story about a thrift-store object, that object will acquire not merely subjective but objective value — on eBay. How better to test this hypothesis than via a week-long collaboration with Design Observer? The fourth of five stories is by Teddy Blanks; it has also been posted to Significant Objects, and the object itself is for sale here on eBay.

Porcelain Scooter

“Figurines”

All those years we were married,
You, the beloved host of a daytime talk show
I’d stay home with the children
arranging your figurines for display

Now I stare at the mantle
Fixed on a small white porcelain motor scooter
Remembering how you told me
You wanted to ride a real one someday

Studio B, and all the lights
Flashing lowly in your metered dreams
TVs have taken flight
Leaving your objects rusting away
(more…)

Observed