Dustin Brookshire

Barbie Watches Golden Girls

She won’t retire to Miami,
open pizza stand by the beach,
enter an all-night dance-a-thon,
start an unauthorized Elvis fan club.
She won’t enjoy cheesecake
in the middle of the night
while solving problems.
(Thanks Mattel privilege!)
Ken says she’d be a total Blanche.
You’re total Stan, fuck boy,
Barbie mumbles under her breath.
She knows she’d be a Rose.
(Barbie’s so goddamn loveable!)
When the credits roll,
Barbie tries not to think about
the truth of it all—
even with all the fans,
the Mattel universe
will not allow her
that kind of sisterhood.

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Dustin Brookshire’s (he/him) chapbooks include Never Picked First For Playtime (Harbor Editions, March 2023), Love Most Of You Too (Harbor Editions, 2021) & To The One Who Raped Me (Sibling Rivalry Press, 2012). He is a co-editor of Let Me Say This: A Dolly Parton Poetry Anthology (Madville Publishing, 2023.) Dustin hopes you’ll visit him at dustinbrookshire.com to learn more about Limp Wrist and the Wild & Precious Life Series.