Day 21

Today, another poem. I've been thinking about dolls, and what it means to be a trophy. Some women become trophies for men, who show them off until they are no longer desirable. After that, they are discarded, and a new trophy is acquired. For those of us who find ourselves trophy wives, especially when that was not our intent, it can be a startling experience. It isn't what we were led to expect, what we believed about relationships between men and women.

This is for all trophy wives everywhere - those who are still stuck in the loveless relationships, and those who have managed to escape (or been discarded). I hope you all manage to end up as well as I have, finding a true partnership of whatever sort you wish, or finding happiness, whatever it might mean for you.

BARBIE

Plastic woman
Sitting on a shelf.
Formed into a shape
So perfect, so unreal, so…
Deformed.

Plastic woman
With a painted smile.
Forced to be lovely
Even when you feel so…
Unhappy.

Plastic woman
In high heeled shoes.
Heels raised high
While the toes are squeezed into…
Triangles.

Plastic woman
Naked in a corner.
Stripped of dignity
Chewed on by the cat and…
Mangled.

Plastic woman
Resting in the trash.
Broken and unloved
Waiting for the truck and…
Discarded.