Nothing is quite alien or recognizable at this speed,
Though there is the suggestion of curve, a mutant
Curvature designed, I suppose, to soften or offset
The stiletto toes and karate arms that were too
Angular for her last car, a Corvette as knifed as Barbie
Herself, and not the bloodred of Italian Renaissance.
This is attention. This is detail fitter to sheer
Velocity. For her knees, after all, are locked-
Once fitted into the driving pit, she can only accelerate
Into a future that becomes hauntingly like the past:
Nancy Drew in her yellow roadster, a convertible,
I always imagined, the means to an end
Almost criminal in its freedom, its motherlessness.
For Barbie, too, is innocent of parents, pressing
Her unloved breasts to the masculine wheel, gunning
The turn into the hallway and out over the maiming stairs,
Every jolt slamming her uterus into uselessness, sealed,
Sealed up and preserved, everything about her becoming
Pure Abstraction and the vehicle for Desire: to be Nancy,
To be Barbie, to feel the heaven of Imagination
Breathe its ether on your cheeks, rosying in the slipstream
As the speedster/roadster/Ferrari plummets over the rail
Into ocean of waxed hardwood below.To crash and burn
And be retrieved. To unriddle the crime. To be
Barbie with a plot! That's the soulful; beauty of it.
That's the dreaming child.
Not the dawn of Capital, or the factories of Hong Kong
Reversing the currency in Beijing. Not the ovarian
Moon in eclipse. Just the dreaming child, the orphan,
Turning in slow motion in the air above the bannister,
Less than nothing. It's the car she was born for.
It's Barbie you mourn for.
Here is a great companion listen about the history of barbie and her creators. Check out this link, http://thehistorychicks.com/episode-116-barbie/
ReplyDeleteIt seems there is a big play on feminism here, although I am quite unsure how. Being something made female in a world, a car, designed for the imagination of men, and of women. Not “The ovarian Moon in eclipse”- a symbol of womanhood, of the natural cycles. The opposite of something else. Barbie.
ReplyDeleteYes, I love how the poem weaves between the doll, the car, feminism, and just straight up philosophical paradox like the first couple lines,
Delete"Nothing is quite alien or recognizable at this speed,
Though there is the suggestion of curve, a mutant
Curvature designed,"
The whole poem is so deep. The metaphors are excellent and the complexity is really rewarding to read.
I remember starting the Barbie documentary on Netflix and not finishing it for some reason. Will have to revisit. This is going to be a revisit after a bit more research. I liked how you mention the weaving of themes and paradox. She is one popular girl. Agreed- so much to explore here.
DeleteListen to the History Chicks podcast episode on barbie too!
DeleteTHis poem was supposed to be on the 6th or 7th, but after I listened to their episode, I had to re-order the poems because I wanted to read, think, and comment on this poem.
Slamming her uterus into uselessness. I love the multiple implications of use in objects as opposed to imagination. Since the play is what really makes barbie or any toy. Really stunning uses of literary texture
ReplyDeleteYes, and the word choice for "slamming," it's literally what children do with their toys, but how can you think about kids and toys with that line?
DeleteI think of it more with the overt femininity, barbie for me was never a feminist, more of an unrealistic expectation for small girls to compare themselves to. Perhaps the slamming is an homage to railing against gender roles. The violence that lies in the very nature of womanhood.
ReplyDeleteAgreed.
Delete