Mommy
(in response to the boys in my gym class)
by Talasi Brooks

When I was four
Barbie seemed perfect
with her fancy dresses
and 24-carat grin.

Mommy wouldn’t buy me a Barbie because
she said their preposterously bulging breasts
concave bellies
long, stork-like legs
and tattooed cosmetics caused
"Objectification of Women."

Barbies were
tools of the fashion industry to cultivate
more anorexic, materialistic slaves
and uphold the damn capitalist economy,
Mommy said.

She hadn’t used makeup since ’76
and burned her bra
before I was born;
a cool hippie chick
who wisely avoided scary silicon and spiked heels
joined N.O.W. and marched for WOMEN’S RIGHTS!

Mommy brainwashed me
with her radical left-wing notions
of politics and religion,
preached the evils
of popular American culture,
then left me to make my own decisions.