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.

To me this poem reminds me of how society looks at beauty. How the media influences people, to tell them how they are suppose to look like. It makes me think about the negative effects can take on people who dont have very high self esteem like a little girl, as it seems in the poem. Everyone is born different from one another, and yet it seems like the only beauty there is is the superficial "barbie" type beauty. You have to be this amount of skinny, your nose has to be this big, your hair has to be this length. It is just silly, intelligence doesnt seem to matter anymore, now its about what is on the outside that is beautiful to somepeople. But honestly Beauty should come from inside, because it projects to people. You should never hide the way that you look, and never feel any less than you really are. This poem I think really does relate to how people think in our current society and i think that is just sad and that it should be different but I don't think that it will change anytime soon unfortunately.

 

There Are Those Who Love To Get Dirty by Gary Snyder

There are those who love to get dirty
and fix things.
They drink coffee at dawn,
beer after work,

And those who stay clean,x    
just appreciate things,
At breakfast they have milk
and juice at night.

There are those who do both,
they drink tea

To me this poem connects on the life of an average worker in America. Someone who has to get up right when the sun comes up, get a cup of coffee to start out the day. The first stanza makes me think of a construction worker, someone who fixes things,someone who builds with his hand. Someone able to create something, spending their whole day sweating, and pushing their bodies to the limit in which they are so tired. And after a long day of work, go out and celebrate their lives by having a drink and relaxing so they can get up the next day and do it over once more. 

And then you have the other workers, who don't have to get dirty, who don't necessarily have to use their hands at their job. they are bale to take it easy, they don't have to sweat, and at night they don't need a stress reliever, they are pleased with what they have, and appreciate not having to break their backs for it. 

And then there is always someone else who manages to do both these things. They can work hard at work and come back home to tea, the middle ground and drink tea which relaxes them and gives them the satisfaction that they need from working all day.

There are those who work with their hands who need to get away after work and then there are those who work with their minds and just want to go home and relax. Two separate types of working people. And the the ones who do both, that have an understanding for manual labor and are able to appreciate everything in their lives.  

Round About Midnight by Bob Kaufman

I enjoyed this poem because it reminded me of a story I was reading in my short fiction class.
The story is called Sonny's Blues and a major motif in the story is music,  and not just any music. How music can potentially save you from the darkness that you feel inside yourself. And for Sonny it was through Jazz music. In this poem it is more erotic, how music can set people in the mood for something more. How it gives you a feeling that only music could, and how it can somehow connect two people together, who are able to feel it. Through music you can feel joy, anger, love, pain, heartbreak, lust. Music brings out those emotions in people. Think about your favorite song, and think about why it is your favorite song, its because it holds a deeper emotional meaning to you. To me I just enjoyed reading the poem because I felt like the music did get the point across, his lust for the jazz chick.