Russian Doll

Dear all,

Please share your thoughts and responses to Rachel Rooney’s poem “Russian Doll” with us here.

You can listen to the poem again below.

Rachel Rooney Russian Doll from CLPE on Vimeo.

69 thoughts on “Russian Doll

      1. Do you want to move? then come to London and get a new house and live on the south side of old London bridge .I think you should live on the south because your side is cheaper whereas on the north side is super expensive. ON our side you will have a movie theatre. The house on your side you can look out the window so you can see the rich peoples houses and you can see any thing you want and evrry thing.

      2. Are you looking for somewhere to to live? I think you should live on the south side of old London bridge because on the south side things are cheaper because on the north side things are very expensive. If you go on the south side you have more sun than on the.On the south there a theatre to watch magnicicent peformances .And on south there a better view of people heads and a better view of the rich houses

    1. Do you want to a home?

      We have two different side the north side and the south side and the south side.I recomend the south side,because if u buy a house on the north side you wont have any more money to buy food.On the south side its more sunny there is the theaters and u get a nice view of the criminals heads on sticks

      What are you wating for buy a house now!

  1. Russian Doll

    All you sees is outside me, My fake smile,the painted shell and the happy but actually sad eyes, A brave -type- of -me

    But inside there’s another me full of excitement . A great- type -of -me.

    And inside there’s another me waiting for something to happen.

    And inside another me always excited and ready to party

    And inside show-off -type-of-me

    And inside a -upset-type-of-me.

  2. All you see outside of me: my happy smile, the excitable shell, the pretty eyes a laughable type of me.

    But inside there’s another me, bored till night the nothing to do a can’t be bothered sort of me.

    And inside there another me, full of anger the red hot feeling a annoyed at everything one of me.

    And inside there’s another me, who’s cheeky the very sneaky a I didn’t do it type of me.

    And inside there’s another me all scared the frightened and shy a I don’t like it type of me.

    And inside there’s another me forever sleepy the i don’t want to leave bed a tired me.

    and deepest down kept secretly a quiet doll the girl who hides the real person inside of me.

  3. You only see outside of me, my sharp smile,
    the shiny shell, the sparkly eyes,
    a happy, smiley, type of me.

    But inside there’s another me, bored till hometime,
    the lazy arms, the sloppy legs,
    a can’t wait to go home -sort-of me.

    And inside there’s another me, full of attitude,
    the cheeky smirk, the rude behaviour
    an I don’t care-sort-of me.

    And inside there’s another me, full of rage,
    Shouting all day, stomping their feet,
    an angry rage-sort-of me.

    And inside there’s another me, blue all day,
    all alone, always feeling depressed,
    an I’m so sad-sort-of me.

    And inside there’s another me, annoyed all the time,
    want to be left alone,
    a just leave me alone-sort-of me.

    And inside there’s another me, a tiny, baby doll,
    secretly hiding inside,
    away from any one to see.

  4. Russian doll

    All you see is the outside me:my happy smile the colourful shell ,
    the sparkly eyes
    A confident type me

    But inside there’s another me,bored till lunch time
    The impatient type me
    A tired type me

    And inside there’s another me , full of mischief
    The naughty me
    A sneaky -sort -of me

    And inside there’s another me who’s petrified
    The quiet one
    The scared -one-of me

    And inside there’s another me, all funny
    The silly , crazy one of me
    A crazy clown type me

    And inside there’s another me ,forever Angry
    who can feel the anger building up
    A angry type me
    And deepest down,kept secretly
    a small doll
    The girl who creeps inside of me

  5. all you see is outside me my big smile the colourful shell
    the shiny eyes a loving person that a type of me

    but inside there another me bored till i sleep
    the other one of me it inside me
    a litter one of me is in me it inside me

  6. A miserable person a lazy mind.
    Forever will be moody until the clock strikes .

    Always shut down,
    The brain and the mind For all i can see is misery .

    But all around me is a circle of joy
    I see joy
    I hear joy but i don`t be joy.

    Anxiety creeps upon me
    whoever I am
    wherever I am.

    I hide my voice
    I hide my life all that I hide are the things that are mine

    Weights are on my shoulders whenever i am nervous
    it brings me down below the ground

    Im half empty most of the time
    But when i succeed
    I change to half full.

    1. Thank you Lola. It’s encouraging to see you branching out and writing your own poetry. This is very sophisticated with your use of line breaks and repetition.

  7. All you see is the outside of me my shiny excited face is waiting for the day to end. As the clock ticks , the day takes longer. Its home time and everyone rushes home.

    But there’s another me inside . You take some stuff to eat secretly . When they ask you we the snacks you replied i don’t know . when they find out they say your cheeky.

    There another me inside . The jealous has come and they ask you do you want to have a go. You want to say yes but you said no.

    There another me inside. The people giggle and make fun of you . Yoy shout at them and the teacher comes . You want to shout at them again but is to late , the anger has flown away.

    There’s another me inside .Things has not gone your way .People walk past you confused . You sit there and wish they said yes.

    There’s another me inside . Your about to go on stage and you know your shy . There so many people sitting down waiting for you.

    The last of me is there . Your walking in the cordoor .As you walk you reach the door to your room . Someone opens the door but it was just your brother

    1. Thank you Shuaib. I like the way you are experimenting with full stops. Using them in lines breaks the flow of the verse and can be effective. I think it works well in some of your verses.

  8. All you see outside of me is my big brown confused,
    eyes looking around questioning everything i see.

    But inside theres another me optimistic live full of cheek
    slick joker with a poking tounge i just want to have some
    fun.

    Theres another me timid and panicked like a fragile vase
    when it falls to a million tiny pieces , scared like a pigeon.

    And the other me hot head my shout sparks the sky
    bold angry mean the sound of my thunderous feet.

    Theres another me helpful generous helping anyone in need
    theres a shine on my smile that makes anything okay, my heart
    is full of pure kindness.

    The other me gloomy and sad falling deeper and deeper
    crying in my sleep.

    But deep down kept secretly the fake smile and laugh you see
    depressed and lonley the girl that hides inside of me.

  9. All you see on the outside me is my innocent smile and my giddy shell,the humorous me you can never catch me down

    But inside there’s another me,the bored me the moody me that doesn’t want to do anything or wants to do everything i can get very bored

    And inside there’s another me,the positive me the motivated me i get motivated when the clock dings 12 am,the positive me is very common but only if your positive back

    And inside there’s another me,the scared me the one who gets scared if someone or something scared me ,but some of the times i’m the girl who gets anxiety that strikes when i’m nervous but keeps it to myself unless you can see

    And inside there’s another me,the lazy,unbothered one,the one who just wants to stay in bed the one who doesn’t like to do anything unless it games

    And inside there’s another me.the one who’s sporty ,the one who likes to do sports a lot like football or kickboxing the one who has done a lot my whole life

    And deepest down,kept secretly unless your a friend of mine,the one who gets jealously very easily or the one who is always down or depressed will only shine if you know about it however,my deepest feature is being kindhearted

  10. All you see is outside me: my funny smile ,my dark chocolate eyes. The nice happy me but wait until you go deeper.

    Once you go deeper you can see the lazy me,the bothered me, the hot headed me but just wait until you go deeper.

    Once you go even deeper you can see the scared me, the nervous me the one that’s scared to do things me oh you think it ends here just wait and see.

    Your half way there plenty of more emotions to come while your here lets talk about the angry me , the frustrated me , the person that is mad at everyone me.

    And inside there’s another me the funny one, the one that jokes around , the class clown but wait there is another on.

    You go even deeper and you can see the jealous me, the one who never gets enough.

    You have now reached the deepest part of me the one who keeps all the secrets, the girl who hides inside me.

  11. All you see is outside me: my energetic smile, but when your inside in nine, you will be terrified when your mine.

    When your inside you see another me. He’s anxious and scared and never wants to get dared . A-wouldn’t-say-boo-to-a-goosey me.

    And inside there’s another me who is very jealous and is never careless. A-very-careless-one-of me.

    And inside there’s another me, carefree and light-hearted. He is very mature and always is secure. A wouldn’t-say-a-very-bad one

    And inside there’s another me, very furious and always stamps his feet. He is very cross and always walks around like hes the boss.

    And inside there’s another me who is very shy and never says bye. He is very gloomy and never says anything moody.

    And all of the people inside me were very scared. But the outside there’s a very big energetic doll.

  12. On the outside I feel tuff and angry frustrated and full of anger bulling and I’m a bad person.
    but some times I feel kind hareted on the inside helpfu but i just can’t express it because i’m tuff and bad.
    And sometimes i’m humorous with my friends and make jokes be bad and we just have fun.
    But sometimes i’m horrified because when i’m in the coridor alone and when its night.
    But sometimes i’m very clumzy i bump into stuff and i fall down and i go the wrong way.
    And sometimes very jelous because some of thee childen are the teacher favorote and when they get a star .
    I sometimes get uppset if my dog left or if some one gets away from me.

  13. All you see:my cheeky smile
    joyfull eyes energetic type of me.

    But inside there’s another me,estatic till joyfull
    the energetic
    a warm hearted sort of me
    And inside there’s another me full of joy
    the quick shy joker with a paking tonge
    all funny meek clown

    And inside there’s another me
    who’s moody neverious the energetic
    worring eyes miss whisperer a wouldn’tbe nereious

    And inside there’s another me
    all thetirful and joyfull horridfid hut need stamping
    a energetic me

    And inside there’s another me faver jellous
    who never get’s energetic compard
    a grass-is-always-greener me

    And deepest down kept
    secrate a tiny littleemotion
    but it need’s to be kept a secrate

  14. What you see on the outside of me (my gleeful,humorous and energetic self)might not always be true so you can never tell if it’s fake or not.So you will never know.

    But inside of there is another me,the demotivated and bored me the me that doesn’t want to do anything except eat,sleep and do nothing for the whole day.

    And inside of that one,is the cheeky and naughty one that will never be up to any good and the me that will get on your very last nerve but you should know very well that its going to be quite hard to do anything about it.

    Inside of that one is smaller and much more quieter and is scared,shy and very anxious and also sheepish and will get very scared of anything.

    Inside of that frightened Russian doll of me is a ferocious,vexed and hot-headed version of me the part of me that isn’t afraid to throw hands or start to rage.

    Then there is the serious part of me that you don’t want to mess around with and my mature self that knows when to calm down and knows when its the right time to not make any mistakes and be able to look after myself without help.

    Then you have the smallest part of me that i hide deep down like a game of hide and seek all my insecurity’s and self-doubt. Because of my outside nobody would think that i would ever have self-doubt but just because you have big smile on the outside that does not mean its gonna be the same as the inside…

    1. Thank you Neveah. A detailed and thoughtful response. Poets often seek economy of expression and so try to make their points in a memorable way. I wonder if you edited this poem and shortened it, if it would have more impact?

  15. Outside me is energetic dare-devil me motivated determine me.
    ecstatic care-free me . Inside me is a dark gloomy figure
    that is easily pleased

    Outside me is giddy and fun me .
    But inside me is a light-hearted
    timid me .

    Outside me is curious cheeky me
    But inside there is scared day-dreamer
    that is frightened .

    Outside me there is freedom and a energetic
    who is never jealous . But inside me there is
    a scared meek dimsy figure

    Inside me i am a cheeky class clown you can never see down .
    I`m a humerous person and a
    laid-back dopey me .

    But inside me there is a timid that can’t always been seen
    there is a de-motivated me
    that can’t do everything

    1. Some fantastic contrasts here Sami. I like your opening stanza in particular with the dare devil contrasting with the “dark gloomy figure”.

  16. All you see is outside me;my happiness ,my shimmering eyes,funny jokes.
    A smile can spread that much happiness and joy that it
    can become contagious.

    The person who refuses to leave their cosy,bed .
    A lethargic, sluggish person who doesn’t like to do anything
    except from sleeping.

    All you see is an energetic person a competitive side, the rosy cheeks of tiredness ,but never gives up.
    And will always try again.

    Inside another me ,the shy full of thoughts,
    A person who always struggles to become friends with others .
    A sad,depressed, timid me.
    |

    Inside another me,the angry ,frustrated person who always rages ,hot-headed doll.
    A heated furious me
    that will always bang their feet.

    Inside another me,a serious person who can never
    take a joke.
    A humourless ,straight-faced person person of me.

    And deepest down, the thing thing that everyone knows about me ,
    although it doesn’t happen very often is my clumsiest,dopey,lumbering me.

  17. All you see is outside me : my joyfull , kindness, happy me , it’s like a butter won’t melt in my mouth that’s the type of me .

    I am cheeky like a monkey swinging for tree to tree like opening a new door
    i am always ready to explore .

    Every time someone opens me i am always grumpy and moody to see
    but once they open me i become a new doll that’s the type of me i see .

    1. Thank you Assya. I like the expressions you use. Try to consider your use of line breaks and I think your poem will read even better.

  18. All you see is the outside me my exhausting smile
    the crazy shell the lion eyes
    A excited type of me but inside there’s another me bored

  19. All you see outside me is my cheesy smile The Shiny shell The glittering eyes A funny type of me but inside there is another me a bored till sunrise me the lazy chin wager not bothered me

  20. I really like this poem so I made my own this is my poem.All you see is outside me my funny smile the cheeky shell the large deep eyes.a funny type of me but inside there’s another me bored till noon the other me sleepy sort of me and inside there’s another me full of energy .The other me a engetic one of me and inside there’s another me full of anger.A furious one of me

    1. Thank you for sharing Mustafa. Think where could you place line breaks? It would make your poem even more memorable.

  21. All you see is outside me my friendly smile,
    The shimmering shell, the hopeful eyes.
    A well known little sparkle type of me.
    But inside there’s another me bored till I can play
    The worst bit of me.
    An impatient sort of me
    And inside there’s another me who’s got a helpful brain
    The unexpected answers in maths
    A smart one of me.
    And inside there’s another me, forever rude
    Who plays football hard
    A naughty me
    And deepest down kept secretly
    A itty bitty doll
    The girl that is deepest inside of me.

  22. This is what I have got so far

    All you see is outside me: my beaming smile
    The stiff shell, the brown eyes
    A gaming type of me
    But there’s another me bored till home time .
    The school bell rings
    The lazy sort of me
    And inside there’s another me, full of positivity
    The optimist
    A joyful one of me

  23. All you see outside of me, my extraordinary smile
    the solid shell, the glimmering eyes.
    But inside there’s another me, bored till death
    The one who never help’s with chores
    A lazy sort-of-me
    And inside there’s another me, full of bravery
    The one who seeks for adventure
    A courageous one-of-me
    And inside there’s another me who’s pretty playful
    The one who always wants to have fun
    A spirited me
    And inside there’s another me, all full of jealousy
    The one who is grudging of everybody’s thing’s
    A envious me
    And inside there’s another me, forever scared
    Who is never stops whimpering
    A terrified me

  24. this poem is a very thoughtful poem- a poem where you can truly write how you feel. Where you can express your emotions. I love Russian Doll. 🙂

  25. Life is like book to me
    because there are
    chapters and

    In the chapters,
    any of them
    something

    good can happen
    or bad

    Is’t like your life is
    spinning in a wheel.

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