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Pick a word or phrase from Piercy and The Stranger that communicates something more than just the word. Then explain it.
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: 5
You have a great big nose and fat legs.
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: 5
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. 10
Everyone saw a fat nose on thick legs.
possessed strong arms and back,
abundant sexual drive and manual dexterity.
She went to and fro apologizing. 10
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 15
like a fan belt.
So she cut off her nose and her legs
and offered them up.
exhorted to come on hearty,
exercise, diet, smile and wheedle.
Her good nature wore out 15
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, 20
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. 25
with the undertaker's cosmetics painted on, 20
a turned-up putty nose,
dressed in a pink and white nightie.
Doesn't she look pretty? everyone said.
Consummation at last.
What’s That Smell in the Kitchen?
(Marge Piercy)
All over America
It’s lambchops in Peoria
in Providence ; it’s steak in Chicago
tofu delight in Big Sur ; red
rice and beans in Dallas
All over America
food they’re supposed to bring with calico
smile on platters glittering like wax.
Anger sputters in her brainpan, confined
but spewing out missiles of hot fat. 10
Carbonized despair presses like a clinker
from a barbecue against the back of her eyes.
If she want to grill anything, it’s
her husband spitted over a slow fire.
If she wants to serve him anything 15
it’s a dead rat with a bomb in its belly
ticking like the heart of an insomniac.
Her life is cooked and digested,
nothing but leftovers in tupperware.
Look, she says, once I was roast duck 20
on your platter with parsley but now I am Spam.
Burning dinner is not incompetence but war.
