Barbie’s Retirement
Barbie was born in 1959
She was the first grown-up
that I saw naked
when I was a girl
who still played with dolls
that drank from milk bottles
and wet their diapers
After that shock
we learned the term
‘anatomically correct’
We looked down Ken’s pants
and saw that he wasn’t
It didn’t seem fair
that all eyes were on Barbie
and her bared body
while Ken was left unexposed
I preferred paper dolls
We could afford their clothes
and their cardboard houses
that we stacked like cards
Barbie grew up too fast
and middle class
A modern version
of the blonde princess
Not like anyone I knew
And all she could do was date Ken
and put ideas in our little heads
We changed our names
to Pat and Barbara
got imaginary boyfriends
and played ‘teenager’
We wore towels for long hair
turbans and skirts
while Barbie changed her outfits
and put on red lipstick
And now she’s 64
and is writing her memoir
She dyes her hair
while the eyes of the world
quietly avoid her
She left her dream house estate
to the Goodwill thrift shop
She lost touch with Ken
and doesn’t even miss him
_________Colleen Redman / Poets and Storytellers United
July 28th, 2023 12:57 am
I love these reminiscences and reflections! I was old enough (and lucky enough, as I see it) to miss out on Barbie, but I well remember the paper cut-out dolls with their cut-out changeable wardrobes. 🙂
Your link at P&SU only goes back to that same P&SU post! I’m about to delete it. Please link again.
July 28th, 2023 6:11 am
Those paper dolls were lots of fun and there was some work involved, cutting out the paper dresses as I recall. In the movie both Ken and Barbie evolved.
July 28th, 2023 9:16 am
There was no Barbie here when I was a kid… . Can’t connect to it at all, don’t understand the hype. But the movie seems to be doing amazingly well!
July 28th, 2023 10:17 am
I believe the doll was banned in some countries, Saudi Arabia.
July 28th, 2023 10:43 am
Fortunately I missed out on Barbie and Ken but did experience the 50s Sandra Dee and Troy Donahoe
‘Summer Place ‘and ‘Gidget goes Hawai’ years
July 28th, 2023 1:42 pm
A delightful poem! I love how you described the Barbie vs. Ken anatomy situation. My paper doll’s name was Millie. I designed each of her many outfits, a designer in waiting … which I did not become … but designed many of my teen garments which Mother would sew.
July 28th, 2023 5:06 pm
I had the Lennon sister paper dolls. And I love Gidget and the Beach Blanket Bingo days.
July 28th, 2023 7:51 pm
My sister has all her old Barbie dolls and some of the accessories. I have a remote control, on a wire, Yellow Barbie Corvette, about a 1982 left over from when our daughter was still home. We intend to see the movie. I liked the first half, my only first grade classmate, a girl, initiated that. I was disappointed, she learned.
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July 28th, 2023 11:45 pm
Enjoyed your poem Loved the last stanza If that’s from the movie than it nearly makes me want to watch it.
Thanks, fellow Frederick for the tip about the book of the poet mouse. I listened to it on YouTube and loved it so much that I ordered the book.
July 31st, 2023 1:27 pm
Paper dolls are the best. I used to draw my own, clothes and all. My friends liked them so much that they offered to buy them. It was my first business venture.
Barbie always creeped me out a bit. Her limbs seem to be overstretched and that blank grin, which never left her face… or Ken’s.
August 4th, 2023 8:20 pm
Reminiscence well done here, Colleen!
I loved paper dolls, and changing their
outfits. I was a bit older when Barbie appeared.