Plastic's Republic

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"In 2019, Barbara Millicent Roberts, aka, Barbie will turn 60. Plastic's Republic is a poem-sequence centering on this deathless, cultural icon. The poems in Plastic's Republic began in 2010, following Barbie's well-publicized, 50th birthday in 2009. I view Barbie as a complex cultural figure and as a feminist bête-noir. The collection includes poems written in the voice of the central personalities in Barbie's development and mammoth success, including Ruth Handler who co-founded Mattel with her husband; their daughter Barbara--the doll's inspiration and namesake; and Barbie, herself. Another section titled "Plastications" features poems about Barbie versions that reflect Mattel's opportunistic, marketing response to social trends. Poems on the "Human Barbie" phenomenon treat Barbie-obsessed women who use physical and digital plastic surgery to achieve "dollification.""--