Murphy Writing of Stockton University Presents
This entry is part of Getaway Reads, an e-mail series that features the writing of the Winter Poetry & Prose Getaway faculty.
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Kinky
by Denise Duhamel
They decide to exchange heads.
Barbie squeezes the small opening under her chin
over Ken’s bulging neck socket. His wide jaw line jostles
atop his girlfriend’s body, loosely,
like one of those novelty dogs
destined to gaze from the back windows of cars.
The two dolls chase each other around the orange Country Camper
unsure what they’ll do when they’re within touching distance.
Ken wants to feel Barbie’s toes between his lips,
take off one of her legs and force his whole arm inside her.
With only the vaguest suggestion of genitals,
all the alluring qualities they possess as fashion dolls,
up until now, have done neither of them much good.
But suddenly Barbie is excited looking at her own body
under the weight of Ken’s face. He is part circus freak,
part thwarted hermaphrodite. And she is imagining
she is somebody else—maybe somebody middle class and ordinary,
maybe another teenage model being caught in a scandal.
The night had begun with Barbie getting angry
at finding Ken’s blow up doll, folded and stuffed
under the couch. He was defensive and ashamed, especially about
not having the breath to inflate her. But after a round
of pretend-tears, Barbie and Ken vowed to try
to make their relationship work. With their good memories
as sustaining as good food, they listened to late-night radio
talk shows, one featuring Doctor Ruth. When all else fails,
just hold each other, the small sex therapist crooned.
Barbie and Ken, on cue, groped in the dark,
their interchangeable skin glowing, the color of Band-Aids.
Then, they let themselves go— Soon Barbie was begging Ken
to try on her spandex miniskirt. She showed him how
to pivot as though he was on a runway. Ken begged
to tie Barbie onto his yellow surfboard and spin her
on the kitchen table until she grew dizzy. Anything,
anything, they both said to the other’s requests,
their mirrored desires bubbling from the most unlikely places.
Buddhist Barbie
by Denise Duhamel
In the 5th century B.C.
an Indian philosopher
Gautama teaches “All is emptiness”
and “There is no self.”
In the 20th century A.D.
Barbie agrees, but wonders how a man
with such a belly could pose,
smiling, and without a shirt.
© Denise Duhamel. From Kinky, published in Orchises Press, 1997.
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The Winter Poetry & Prose Getaway and Murphy Writing are programs of Stockton University.
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Want to study with Denise Duhamel? Denise will lead three special Advanced Poetry Workshop sessions at the 2020 Winter Poetry & Prose Getaway.
Denise Duhamel’s most recent book of poetry is Scald (2017). Her other collections include Kinky, Queen for a Day: Selected and New Poems, Ka-Ching!, Blowout—which was a finalist for a National Book Critics Circle Award—and more. Introducing Denise for Smartish Pace, poet Karla Huston observes, “She fully engages pop culture, the joys and horrors of it, while maintaining the ability to poke fun at our foibles—and make us think.” She is the recipient of fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts. Her work has been featured in several volumes of Best American Poetry and on National Public Radio’s All Things Considered. She currently lives in Florida, where she teaches at Florida International University. Watch Denise give an interview.
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