First name Barbie last name Doll

by Maureen Bocka

“I wish,” writes Maureen Bocka in First name Barbie last name Doll, “I could tell you my history / Make you see past all the pink distractions.” With apologies to Aqua, the Barbie girl’s life in plastic isn’t always so fantastic. These dazzling, clear-eyed poems deftly explore love, loss, betrayal, and inequality in a world where Dreamhouse closets are shut so tight, even President Barbie declares, “If it’s ever known my friends and I / are lesbians we’ll be incinerated for sure.” Thank goodness Bocka is here to rip those pink doors open and report fearlessly on the secrets behind them.
—T.A. Noonan, author of The Bone Folders, Petticoat Government, and four sparks fall

40 pages, Paperback

Published February 4, 2016