Barbie Doll
Marge Piercy
This girlchild was born as usual
and presented dolls that did pee-pee
and miniature GE stoves and irons
and wee lipsticks the color of cherry candy.
Then in the magic of puberty, a classmate said:
You have a great big nose and fat legs.She was healthy, tested intelligent,
possessed strong arms and back,
abundant sexual drive and manual dexterity.
She went to and fro apologizing.
Everyone saw a fat nose on thick legs.She was advised to play coy,
exhorted to come on hearty,
exercise, diet, smile and wheedle.
Her good nature wore out
like a fan belt.
So she cut off her nose and her legs
and offered them up.In the casket displayed on satin she lay
with the undertaker's cosmetics painted on,
a turned-up putty nose,
dressed in a pink and white nightie.
Doesn't she look pretty? everyone said.
Consummation at last.
To every woman a happy ending.
I have had this poem around since my son was little and played with toy guns.
He is now serving our Country and will be going back to Iraq.
Toy Cannon
by Ron Maclean
When he was five, his mother
bought him a toy cannon,
And he played war with his friends.
His Father was proud of his war efforts.
When he was six he broke the toy cannon,
And he cried in his room all day.
His Father tokd him big boys don't cry,
So he choked back the tears and went on with life.
When he was ten, his mother bought
him a machine gun
That sounded just like the real ones.
All his friends had guns and they played
war in the backyard
Under the watchful eyes of their
proud parents.
When he was thirteen, his father told him
to throw away the machine gun,
because big boys don't play with guns.
He wanted to cry bit remembered what his father
had told him when he was young.
When he was eighteen, Uncle Sam
bought him a rifle,
And sent him off to war.
So he went to war, wondering about
What his father had told him when
he was young.
When his parents got the letter,
His father cried.
Ron MacLean
Barbie Doll
by Marge Piercy
1. If you have a child would you prefer a girl or a boy? Why?
2. What are the three most important things you would want for your child?
3. How would you raise a girl differently than a boy?
4. How is the girl in the poem being judged?
5. What evidence is there that the girl wasn’t very happy?
6. What is meant ‘don’t judge a book by it’s cover.?
7. Why would this poem fit both into the tragic and philosophic mode?
Toy Cannon
By Ron Maclean
1. Why was the father proud of his little boy’s war efforts?
2. What is the impact of being told that ‘big boys of six don’t cry’? Is this typical?
3. What is your opinion on buying kids guns? What is the benefit/negative?
4. What mixed messages was he being given by his dad?
5. Who is Uncle Sam?
6. What was in the letter?
7. What mode would you place this poem into?
8. What structure did the author use in setting up his poem?