Plastic Soul Done Right by Sarah Lilius

Barbie always looks
            happy about it.

Barbie’s lipstick
            never smudges.

She’s a sentimental fool
            for a plastic man
                        with no genitals.

She’s not nostalgic
            about Ken’s helmet hair
                        molded in China.

Barbie’s tight torso
            has no internal organs,
                        no blood, no veins.

If your little brother
            cuts her hair, it doesn’t
                        grow back like a weed.

Barbie’s rubber-feeling legs irritate
            those who try her pants
                        on her pale scissors.

The threads can definitely wait
            for naked Barbie to get it together.

We should question Barbie’s
            vacant stare like the inside of a wall.

She’s in her Barbie pink car driving nowhere,
                        picking up no one. 

Sarah Lilius is the author of four chapbooks, including GIRL (dancing girl press, 2017), and Thirsty Bones (Blood Pudding Press, 2017). Her work can be found in Luna Luna Magazine, Pithead Chapel, and Fourteen Hills. She lives in Arlington, VA with her husband and two sons. Her website is sarahlilius.com.