From Diane Seuss’s “frank: sonnets” (2021) to the invention of Russian Matryoshka dolls (1890)

When I prepare poems for class discussion, I sometimes end up down unexpected rabbit holes. These lines begin a poem in Diane Seuss's "frank: sonnets" (2021): "I was raised in a rectangle. Aluminum. There was a rectangular / toy box, red. Sometimes, I’d take out the toys and climb inside. / Rectangle within a rectangle." As the child is inside a box (a rectangle) that is inside a mobile home (a rectangle), I thought of wooden Russian dolls, wondered what they are called, and found the answer: Matryoshka or nesting dolls. But I also learned that they are not a long-lasting Russian folk tradition, as they were only invented in 1890. (Andrew Shields, #111Words, 13 December 2024)